Broken
by Axinite15
Summary: The nightmares had all come true. Their worst fears had been recognised. And now they must do all they can to help protect all those they hold dear. But that's the thing with darkness, it's always there, just waiting for the lost... Will/Caleb, Rated T for some swearing
1. Nightmares

**A/N: Hi! So this is my first ever W.I.T.C.H story AND my first multi-chapter story, so any construstive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading! :D**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter One: Nightmares

_It's found her. She had tried to run but in this place there is nowhere to go, it is an endless abyss of darkness. No matter what direction she goes, how far or fast she runs, there is no escape. She can hear it now, it's coming closer to her, so close it's breath was flowing down her neck. She picked up speed and sprinted to an unknown destination when an invisible force pulled her to a sudden stop. She yelled and thrashed around in panic at the Thing was just behind her when she was suddenly let go and dropped down a hole that appeared just below her, she felt like she was falling for eternity but finally she landed onto a solid floor._

_With a groan the girl looked up and saw a white circle floating off of the ground. Her eyes stung at the bright light but a menacing hiss made her stagger to her feet in a hurry. She approached the circle and reached out with a shaky hand, and when her hand made contact with it the light let out a shockwave causing the girl to fall onto her back with a pained gasp._

_Looking up again with a grimace the girl was met with a terrible image. Her friends were all standing protectively with their parents and her mother behind them; they were all staring in the watching girl's direction in horror. She saw a hand rise in her view and it started to glow a dark pulsing purple, it pointed to the people with the palm facing them and with a push sent the orb flying in their direction. She watched as if in slow motion as they all ducked and it smashed through the wall behind them, scattering debris on their bodies. The vision started to fade just as another orb was getting ready to fire at her friends._

_The girl sat there in shock at what had just happened when movement caught her eye. Black mist started to surround her defenceless body and coiled itself around her legs. The girl jumped up and tried to run in the opposite direction only to be brought crashing to the floor again as the mist started to take a shape around her constricted legs. She rolled onto her back and kicked her legs in an effort to get rid of the mist but it was futile as the mist carried on up her body and around her abdomen tightly and weighing her down to the ground with a painful force that made her cry out at the pressure. The mist had pinned down her right arm when she noticed the shadowed humanoid figure standing above her. The girls breath caught in her throat as it stepped closer to her; a quiet growling could be heard coming from its chest and through the darkness, she could make out animalistic violet eyes. Its right arm rose and it was then she noticed the sharp knife like claws extending from its fingers, she tried to move away but could not, as the hand came down towards her, she put her left arm up in a last attempt to protect her face. She felt a sharp burning down her forearm as the claws sliced through it, and let out a scream of agony._

"Will! Will wake up!"

Will awoke with a gasp as the person stopped shaking her shoulders. She sat up in bad as the light was turned on by her mother, taking deep panicked breaths as she replayed her nightmare over and over in her head. She looked up to her Mom who swiftly brought her into a hug when she saw the tears filling her daughter's eyes.

"Shh Will, its over now, it was just a dream…" Her Mom said in calm quiet tones as she stroked Will's short red hair, letting her cry onto her night gown.

She looked down into Will's brown eyes that were now red and puffy with tears.

"Are you okay now?" Will nodded shakily, "do you want to tell me what happened in your dream?" Will stiffly shook her head. Susan sighed and kissed Will's hair and laid her back onto her bed. She tucked her daughter in like she used to when she was a little girl, and slipped her hands under her quilt to squeeze her arm comfortingly. She felt something weird however, something warm, sticky and wet. Susan's eyes widened and she removed her hand and found her palm covered in a crimson red liquid. Blood.

"Will." She gasped and looked to her daughter's face to see that she was looking at her arm with wide eyes.

Along the top of her left forearm were three deep cuts that curved to the underside of the arm in a jagged style. The wounds were bleeding profusely, spreading quickly onto the bed sheets, and Susan quickly got herself and Will dressed, wrapping some cloth around Will's arm in a makeshift bandage to slow the bleeding, and soon had them in Heatherfeild Hospital. It was 3:36 am on a Wednesday morning but Susan pushed the down her drowsiness and sat up straighter in the waiting room as Will got her cuts cleaned and sewed up.

An hour later they were sitting in their apartment around the kitchen table; Will was fiddling with the gauze on her arm whilst Susan nursed a cup of coffee in her hands. Susan sighed and looked up to Will.

"Will, how… why did you," she gestured to Will's arm, "to yourself?" she finished with her shoulders slumping. Will looked at her Mom in shock.

"Mom, I didn't do this! You know I would never purposely hurt myself, why in the hell would I?"

"I don't know Will! Why would you? Ever since we have moved to Heatherfeild you have been acting so differently that I feel like I don't even know you anymore!"

Will glared at her mother, ignoring the flash of hurt at her mother's words and clenching her fists in anger as she sat onto the edge of her seat.

"I. Did. Not. Cut. Myself." She spat out through her teeth.

"Then how do you think it happened then? They just appeared did they?" Susan unknowingly reminded Will of her nightmare and she slumped into her seat again, playing with the bandage on her arm.

"I don't know," she whispered out in a defeated voice that made Susan's anger disappear and be replaced by concern at her daughters mournful tone, "In my Nightmare, I was," Will cleared her throat and shuffled in her seat, "I was being chased by, by something. I'm not sure what it was but-" she sniffed and looked directly into her mother's eyes that were so much like her own, "it… attacked me in the nightmare and I must've, I dunno, clawed myself in my sleep…"

Susan placed her hand on Will's and smiled comfortably to her, her earlier anger forgotten.

"Its okay Will, it was just a dream. Dreams can't hurt you."

Will moved around the table and launched herself into her Mom's awaiting arms.

"I hope your right Mom, I really hope your right." She mumbled into her sweater as she clung onto her tighter. She did not see the look of concern on her mother's face as she hugged her back.

~Ax~

Susan decided it was best to let Will stay at home instead of going to school seeing as she had been up for most of the night and as soon as she got to her bed she basically collapsed into it. Susan called the school the next day to inform them of her daughter being ill and wrote a note for her and placed it on the table before she left for work.

Will was woken about 3 hours later by her phone.

"**Will, your friend is calling you! You are not skiving school again are you young lady?"** her phone was basically yelling down her ear. Will groaned in annoyance, she did love being a guardian and the whole 'her being able to talk to appliances' did come in handy, but at times like this she could do with out it.

"**Are you listening to me Will?"**

"God yes, yes I am Ed now shh!" she hissed at her phone before flipping it open and lying down back onto her bed.

"Hello?" she asked, tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"WILL!"

Will yelped in shock and jumped up, juggling with her phone in the air whilst she tired to catch it again.

"Irma don't shout at her!" Hay Lin's voice carried through the speaker.

"Oh right! You've been sleeping all day haven't you?"

"I was, Irma." Will grunted, she stood up and opened her curtains, groaning at the sudden blindness from the sunlight.

"Sorry Will, we were just seeing if you were okay." Taranee said softly, even though she is a lot more confident nowadays, the Fire guardian still was shy.

"Guys, what did you think could've happened? I fell down the toilet? Got into a death match with the shower head?" she asked sarcastically whilst she stretched her arms above her head with a yawn.

"Well we were all worried, maybe Cedric or some of his brainless grunts attacked our defenceless friend." Cornelia replied.

"Aw c'mon guys, I'm not _that_ hopeless, you all know I can fend for myself."

She was met with silence.

"Guys?" Will asked in a higher tone.

"W-well we all think you can defend yourself, but it _does_ take all five of us to defeat Cedric you know." Hay Lin answered innocently.

"But brainless grunts, I can take them out. I'm the guardian of Quintessence for God sake!"

"We know that Will! We were just having you on, as a joke!" Irma shouted down the speaker.

"Yeah, well nice speaking to you all, I'm gonna hang up now." Will drawled out and began to move her phone away when a new voice stopped her.

"Wait Will!" Will blushed at the deeper voice.

"Oh! Caleb, hi!" she winced and face palmed herself at her higher pitched voice, a dead giveaway if her laughing friends in the background was anything to go by.

She also distinctly heard Irma say something along the lines of _"Watch out girls, get too close and we might catch the 'lurrvve bug'."_

"How are you?" Caleb asked, her heart sped up a little.

"F-fine! How are you?"

"Well, I'm not the one staying at home today am I?" he was grinning, she knew he was.

"Yes, of course! How silly of me…" The blush on her face was now the same shade of her hair and she sat back down onto her bed before she collapsed from blood loss to her head.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked going back to being serious now.

"As well as I could be." She mumbled.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Er, I will tell you all at school tomorrow okay? I'm still a little tired from my visit to the Hospital and-"

"The Hospital? Why were you at the Hospital!" he sounded really worried now and Will smacked her head again when she heard her other five friends say start to panic as well.

"No, I'm fine now, look I will tell you all at school tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Okay, it's not too serious is it?"

"Well it may have something to do with, W.I.T.C.H but I'm not sure."

He sighed deeply before answering back, "Okay, as long as you are fine and promise to tell us all tomorrow."

"I will Caleb, bye."

"Bye Will." He replied before hanging up. Will sighed and fell back onto her bed, staring up at her ceiling dreamily.

Caleb hung up Taranee's phone and turned to give it back to her.

"Hey! We didn't get to say goodbye!" said an affronted Hay Lin.

"She was tired and had to go anyway." Replied Caleb and he leant back onto the tree they were sitting in the shade of.

"Never mind that, is she going to be okay? 'Cuz I defiantly heard the word Hospital in your convocation." asked Cornelia with worry clouding her cerulean eyes.

"Yeah, she didn't say much but she did say that she will tell us all tomorrow."

The end of break bell rang and Caleb huffed in annoyance.

"Damn, I can't wait until this day is over, then we will be closer to finding out what happened to Will."

"Yeah… or you just can't wait to see your _Girlfriend_ again!" sang Irma as she stood with the other girls.

"She isn't my Girlfriend!" Caleb shouted at her as he stood, a light blush forming on his cheeks.

"Well from that blush, I would say that won't stay that way for much longer."

"Taranee!" Caleb gasped out, his blush growing darker. The girls all laughed at his expense, Irma linked arms with Hay Lin and started to skip in front of their group singing _Love is in the air_ making the other girls laugh harder.

Caleb groaned and buried his face in his hand in an attempt to cover his blush.

"Girls…" he grunted as her followed the four teenage girls who were all laughing and singing down the corridor.

~Ax~

The next day Susan's little red car pulled up outside of Heatherfeild Institute, much to her daughter's embarrassment she had insisted to give her a lift to school _"Just in case"_ she had said, so Will now stood out from her car door with her mom leaning over the seats waving goodbye.

"Have a good day darling!"

"Yeah, bye Mom." Will replied, turning away and down the school entrance to her locker where her friends hang out before school and ignoring the snickering of the kids who had heard her Mom.

"Wow, deja vu or what?" she mutters to herself.

Will opened her locket and dug around inside of it looking for her maths book when suddenly-

"Death from above!" before she could react a person jumped onto her back making her lunge forwards until she could regain her balance.

"Garh, Hay Lin!" Will shouted in surprise.

"Will you're back!" Hay Lin hugged her tighter but let go when she heard her friend hiss in pain.

"Will, what happened the other night? And what did you do to your arm?" asked Taranee as she gently took the arm into her hands. Will looked around the crowded hallway and then looked back at her friends.

"I'll tell you all at lunch right?"

"You know, you will have to tell us sometime Will." said Cornelia, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow.

"Aaand I will. At lunch!" Will grinned, turned on her heel and walked down the corridor quickly, "C'mon Corny, we're late for math!" she called back.

"Don't call me Corny!" she yelled back as she followed after the laughing girl.

~Ax~

"Okay so spill, what happened?" asked Cornelia as she sat down with the group around the tree. Will was sat leaning against the tree with Irma sitting next to her, Caleb sat with his head in her lap and stretched out on the grass looking to the sky, Hay Lin was lying on her stomach absently drawing in her sketch book and Taranee sat leaning back on her hands with her eyes closed. Cornelia sat cross-legged on the grass and turned to Will with a demanding look in her eyes.

"Yeah and like, what happened to your arm?" asked Hay Lin, closing her book to give their leader her full attention. Will looked down and fiddled with her bandage again.

"I don't really know, one minute I'm dreaming and next thing I know I'm awake…"

"Do you remember your dream?" asked Taranee.

"It was more like a nightmare," answered Will with a shudder, "but I do, vaguely yeah. I remember a dark place and being chased by something, but no matter what I did it was still there, as if I wasn't running at all. Then the rest I can't remember much of, I think there was some sort of vision? Anyway, after that I got caught by some mist… no not mist, shadows. The darkness had come to life and it was holding me down. I saw the figure approaching me, the one that had been chasing me, and it went to attack me with this claw like hand, I raised my arm and, I was woken up."

The girls were all silent whilst they tried to absorb what Will had just said when Caleb suddenly sat up and turned to face Will, taking her arm in his hands gently. His emerald eyes met her brown with a calculating look in them.

"And how did this happen then?" he asked. Will bit her lip before taking the arm out of his hands and start to unwind the bandages.

"This is what happened when I woke up…" she answered as all her friends leant in closer to her. When she finally removed all of the wrappings her friends gasped at the arm.

Even though the three long cuts had been stitched up, they were still painful, the doctor said they wouldn't completely go away but the scars will fade some. The cuts curved around her arm and looked red and angry with some swelling in between each cut, the length of them went down her forearm and to the inside of her elbow.

"Oh my… Will that looks painful, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine Tara; the painkillers have numbed it for now." Will smiled at her friend.

"Will I-"

"Oh My God! Did she, like, cut herself?" a childlike voice interrupted Caleb; the group looked up and saw the biggest bitches in the school, the Cheer Leaders.

"Oh no…" Will whispered to her self, she knew that if these girls found something out that it would spread around the school like wild fire, and they also had a tendency to bend the truth as well.

"Eww! And she's showing her friends! What a freak!"

"She must be like, an emo or something. I bet she has eating disorders."

"Oh totally, her Mom must like, completely hate her."

Cornelia glared furiously at the group of bimbos in front of her and stomped to her feet.

"Hey! I don't think I like you butting in on our conversation." She moved to stand in front of Will, as though she could physically protect her from their insults.

"Well I don't think I like you talking to me in those ratty clothes!"

"Yeah, like, where did you get them from? A charity shop?" all the girls laughed at the blonde in front of them whose face was slowly glowing red in anger. By now all of the group were on their feet and facing the cheer squad.

"At least we don't look like street sluts. And sister, if you wanna go chattin' about eating disorders why don't you go look in the mirror yourself? We all know that body didn't come from 'working out'." Irma crossed her arms with a satisfied smirk.

The girl at the front gasped, placing a hand on her chest and stepped back as though she were actually wounded.

"Are you, like, insinuating that _I _have an eating disorder?"

"No, she's not _insinuating_ anything. She's _saying_ you do." Taranee ground out with fire in her eyes, glaring at the people insulting her best friend.

"You little nerd, I'll show you what happens to people who shouldn't butt in." bimbo number one stepped forwards threateningly only to be stopped in her tracks by Will who now had moved to the front of her friends and in front of Taranee.

"Oh will you now? Go on then. Show me, I would love to see what it was you planned to do exactly." The two hatefully glared each other down unblinking; the blonde glanced away after a minute and Will smirked triumphantly.

"That's what I thought. Now, if you say that to any of my friends again, I'll show you what it really means to be in pain."

"Was that a threat?" the blonde raised her head to try and regain some dignity for being beaten in a fight by an _emo_.

"No. It's a promise."

Caleb put his hand onto Will's shoulder and stood by her side, staring down at the blonde.

"Now, run along." She needed no further prompting. The head cheerleader lead away her cheer squad, acting as though it was her plan all along to loose epically, but before she was out of sight she turned to send one last glare at Will and they all saw her pulling out her mobile from her handbag.

Will sighed and turned back to her friends.

"Thanks for that guys." She smiled weakly at them, looking down and attempting to re bandage her gauze.

"No problem Captain, just doin' our job as your faithful followers." replied Irma with a southern accent, giving Will a salute with a wink and bringing a smile to the girl's face.

A few minutes later and they were all back around 'their tree', Will leant against it with Caleb next to her, he had subtly moved his arm around her shoulders a while ago and now she was leaning more into his chest. The other girls all sat in various positions on the grass and they were all chatting happily.

Will was still trying to fix her gauze on her arm and had started to curse under her breath every few minutes much to her friend's amusement.

"Hey, do want a hand with that?" asked Caleb, placing his hand on her forearm.

"You know how to fix a bandage?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"Do you think I lasted this long in rebel wars without learning how to fix a bandage?" he chuckled lightly and sat up, facing the red head that was now also cross legged, the other girls gave each other knowing looks and silently moved further away to give the two of them some privacy.

Caleb un-tucked Will's attempt and gently guided the gauze around her arm, his fingers leaving warm trails on her arm from where he touched her. He took her hand in his to steady it, trying to focus on the task he had set and not the fact that Will's small soft hand seemed to fit perfectly in his larger one.

"Thanks," Will said as she stared down at the now perfectly wrapped bandage on her arm.

"Its no problem Will." Replied Caleb, he looked up and his emerald eyes met her warm brown ones. Will blushed slightly at the look in Caleb's eyes and quickly glanced down to his lips, looking up to see Caleb do the same. Their eyes met again and slowly they leant forwards, Caleb still holding Will's hand, their eyes slid closed just when their noses were about to touch, tilting their heads to the side.

Caleb grunted as suddenly a hard object hit the side of his head, Will opened her eyes and saw the apple rolling across the grass, she looked up to find the culprits laughing obnoxiously.

"Hey love birds! Why don't you find a room?" this caused them to laugh again.

"Hey Uriah, why don't you go find a hole to fall in?" Irma yelled back, annoyed that once again, her friends were stopped before they could _finally_ kiss!

Cornelia stared intently at the path the boys were walking away on, making three small roots quickly grow from the ground and into a loop, catching the boy's trainers and bringing them down to the ground with a large smack making all the people out side the school laugh.

"Nice one Corny!" said Hay Lin, giving the earth guardian a high five.

"Caleb, are you okay?" asked Will in a quiet voice, watching as Caleb rubbed his sore head with a grimace.

"Yeah, it just stings a bit." He replied giving her a smile.

With a sudden burst of confidence Will leant forwards and quickly placed a kiss on Caleb's temple. Caleb stared at her with his mouth hanging open and a steady blush working its way up his face. Will smiled at him and stood up, grabbing Cornelia's arm and pulling her to her feet.

"C'mon Corny, we gotta go to class." Cornelia grinned and walked off with Will and into the school. Caleb, much to the other girl's amusement, was staring after Will with his mouth still open.

"You know you're gonna end up catching flies like that." Irma said with a smirk.

Caleb didn't seem to hear her.

~Ax~

"You ssssummoned me massster?"

"Cedric, yes I have indeed. I have an errand for you to do."

"What isss it my prince?"

Phobos turned around to face his reptilian lord with a blank look on his face.

"I need you to go to the _groapă al sufletelor_. Alert the messenger that resides there and inform him to contact his master. I need his, talents."

Cedric winced, he knew of that place. It made his blood run cold when he even thought about it, and he wouldn't be going there again without knowing why.

"If I might asssk my liege, what is your need of this man?" Phobos glared scathingly at the snake creature, curling his lip in disgust.

"Not that you need to know but if you must…" he trailed off, sitting on his throne and grabbing a handful of sand from next to him and throwing it to the circular pattern on the floor, the pattern soon faded into a picture of a dimly lit room. On the bed was a figure that was fidgeting in it, sweating profoundly and moaning out sounds of pain. Cedric was slightly startled when he recognised the figure as the guardian of the Heart.

"My lord…?"

"Now watch her arms Cedric." The prince interrupted, staring intently at the sleeping girl. Cedric did as he was told, looking at her arms when three long red slashes spread down its length as though something in the room had done it, nothing was there however. The image faded away just when the guardian's mother entered the room.

"Massster, what wasss that?"

"That Cedric, is what I intend to find out." The prince answered harshly, slamming his fist against the arm rest.

Lord Cedric bowed low and swiftly exited the room, in a haste to escape the price's anger even if it meant having to go to the _groapă al sufletelor._

**A/N: Thank you for reading :)**


	2. Late Night Visiters

**A/N: Thank you for the responses I got! :D I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can :)**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter 2: Late Night Visiters 

All day Will had been getting weird looks and muttered comments under people's breath, it was really starting to annoy her. She didn't even know what everyone was talking about though she was pretty sure it was her, her friends hadn't heard anything either and Will was about to give up trying to find out, until lunch came around.

She had been at her locker putting her gym kit away when she heard some girl who had a locker near her's.

"God, why do I have to be by the freaky emo kid…" she had stage whispered to her friends who had all laughed like hyenas.

Hot boiling anger swept through her body as the stress finally got to her, a rage she hadn't known she'd possessed, making her heart beat faster and her adrenalin speed up, she wasn't completely sure why or how but it had happened.

Will had snapped.

She slammed her locker door shut gaining the attention of the girls near her; she glared at them and marched over, grabbing the girl who had spoken by her poorly dyed pink hair and pushing her up against the locker.

"What was that?" she spoke in a deadly tone making the other girl shiver a little.

"You heard, you're the freaky emo kid! You slice your wrists and starve yourself, and-" Will slammed her fist against the metal by the girls head.

"Oh am I now?"

"Will!"

Will looked up at her friend with a pissed off expression, "What Tara?"

Taranee looked at the scene in front of her, the gawking kids, the girl pinned to a locker looking terrified, and her friend holding her there.

"C'mon Will, we gotta go to lunch now, 'kay?" Will gave her a hard stare for a long time, so much so it unnerved Taranee, then her friends eyes seemed to un fog and they widened in realisation at what she was doing, Taranee tuned into the red head's thoughts.

_Oh my god… what am I doing! Mom is going to freak out if she hears I've been in fights at school. Damn, damn, damn._

She looked to the girl pinned to the lockers and quickly removed her hands as though she had been burned, "I- I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me…" she looked to her friend, "c'mon Tara." She quickly turned on her heel and walked down the hallway, slinging her rucksack over her shoulder with Taranee struggling to keep up with her.

"Slow down Will! What happened back there?"

Will looked down and slowed up a bit, "I dunno, one minute I was fine but then I heard them talking about me and, I just flipped."

"That's not like you Will." Will grunted back and walked faster.

Taranee opened her mouth to ask her another question but a glance from Will made her close it again, she would get her answers later.

They didn't leave the hallway quick enough to miss the pink haired girl speak again in a loud voice.

"What did I tell you? She's a freak."

~Ax~

A lone figure stood in the centre of the throne room; his clothing was all black, black slacks, shirt and boots, a flowing black cloak covering his back. His clothing was unnaturally modern for Meridian, yet that was not the most unnatural or unnerving thing about him. He stood at 6 foot tall, his hair was short and black, swept over one eye, his skin was pale white like snow and his lips were slightly cut up from his overly sharp teeth that could be seen barely poking out from in between his lips. His eyes were the most stunning yet terrifying thing about him however, he had no whites as they were coloured a dark midnight black, his irises were a shocking shade of violet swirling with flecks of dark blue, the pupil was small and pin pointed, sending chills down the spine as they looked at you.

Cedric twitched uncomfortably as they did just that, but tried to stare back for as long as he could. He looked away however, when he simply couldn't look anymore.

"I am glad you arrived so promptly."

"Well my master would do anything if his Highness asked for it." The man replied, bowing his head slightly in amusement.

"Good, because I have something I want to know."

The man straightened up and any traces of humour left his face.

"What is it that you would wish to know?" he asked in a deadly calm voice.

"What is his interest in the Guardian Wilhelmina Vandom?"

"It is not my privilege to divulge that information to you sire." He replied, keeping up his emotionless mask, Phobos slammed his fist down onto his throne.

"You will reveal to me what it is I want to know Damien! And if you are wise, shall do so promptly." As he said this, the throne room doors slammed open as a dozen guards marched in and surrounded Damien, who was now smirking, and pointing their weapons to his body.

"What is it you expect me to do sire? This is no threat to me. I have taken down entire armies with just a flick of my wrist, what is it you expect some simple minded guards to do?" he chuckled, running his finger down one of the blades thoughtfully.

Phobos glared at the smug young man, the room crackling with his power.

"Oh don't get into a hissy fit my lord, I will tell you partially of our plan because my master has informed me that we could use some of your, forces." He flicked the blade and watched as it turned to black dust in the guard's hands, making all the other guards gasp in shock, "our interest nor our plans in the guardian cannot be revealed to you as of this moment, but if you allow us to use your castle as protection then we shall tell you in due time."

"What do you need my castle for?" asked Phobos, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"For the first step of our plan," he looked up to Phobos who grinded his teeth in annoyance.

"And that plan is…?"

Damien looked up and grinned evilly.

"Capturing the Guardian of the Heart."

~Ax~

Will sighed happily as she walked out of the school gates with her friends, ignoring the concerned looks she had been getting from Taranee all day.

"Finally, freedom from Hell!" she announced, stretching her arms out to the sky.

"I know right? And for a whole weekend!" replied Irma, slinging her arm around Will's shoulders.

"What are you guys gonna do this weekend then?" asked Cornelia, unlocking her bike from the stand.

"I dunno, if my rents let me out of the house we could all go to the park and chill or something." answered Hay Lin, looking excited at the idea.

"Well I'm cool with that, lets meet up at around… 12 on Saturday?" asked Will with a tired smile.

"Yeah I'm cool with that, but are you feeling okay Will? You don't look so good."

"Gee thanks Tara," she rolled her eyes at Taranee's serious look, "I'm fine, I just need some fresh air. I think I ate something dodgy or somethin…" she trailed off after a barely concealed yawn and shook her head.

"Do you want me to walk you home Will? Just incase something happens,"

"No Caleb, Dad wants us to do an extra shift at the restaurant today remember? C'mon we gotta go!" she grabbed his arm and dragged him down the road, ignoring his struggles and shouting bye to her friends.

"One day, I really wanna get into the mind of Hay Lin." said Irma with a grin.

"Trust me, you're better off as you are." relied Taranee, shaking her head mournfully.

"Aww, poor Tara!"

They all laughed again as Taranee slapped the back of Irma's head.

"Don't start Irma, wouldn't want me to transmit what goes through your head do you?"

Irma's eyes went wide as both Will and Cornelia looked at her curiously.

"What do you-"

"Oh my look at the time! We have to go, come on Taranee!" Irma snatched the other girl's arm and dragged her down the street much like Hay Lin had.

"You know one of these days, we will say goodbye to each other without being dragged apart forcibly."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up there Will," Cornelia replied with a grin, straddling her bike and was about to pedal off before she looked behind her to the red head who was staring at the ground thoughtfully, "Will? You sure you're okay?"

Will's head snapped up and she smiled unconvincingly to the blonde.

"Sure, sure, I'm just thinking is all."

Cornelia snorted, "Careful, don't wanna hurt yourself now do you?"

"Oh har de har har, everyone's a comedian aren't they?"

"Well I do try,"

"Yeah? Try harder," Will winked and walked off in the direction of her apartment, Cornelia riding in the opposite direction.

~Ax~

"Mom, you home?" Will called into the flat as she locked the door and threw the keys onto the couch.

"Come in here Will." Was her mother's reply, in a tone Will had heard one too many times.

_God damn Mr Collins for dating my mother…_

"'Sup mom?" she asked innocently as she walked into the kitchen were her mother was sitting at the table seriously.

"Take a seat Will."

"Erm, I think I will stand thanks." She replied nervously, incase she had a need of a quick get away.

"I said sit down Will."

"Why?"

"Because I said so that's why." Her mother ground out from between closed teeth as she glared challengingly at her daughter, normally Will would submit and do as she was told to avoid anymore telling off, but for some reason, she felt… different.

"No, I don't think I will."

"Wilhelmina Vandom you will sit down this instant!" her mother yelled, standing up and slamming her palms down onto the table.

"What have I done for you to treat me like I'm being questioned?!"

"Oh so you've done nothing have you?"

"That's what I'm saying," Will said sarcastically, huffing angrily and making small electric sparks fly around her hair.

"Oh so Dean didn't just call me to say that there were several people reporting to say you attacked and threatened the life of a girl at school today, hmm?"

"That's bull crap! I did not threaten her life!"

"Oh so you did attack her? Or did I imagine that?"

"Well you are getting old…" Will trailed off, eyes widening as she realised what she had just said, and to whom.

"Go to your room."

"Mom I'm sorry-"

"Go to your room right now! You are grounded. Now I'm going out on a date with Dean in a few minutes and I better not hear about you sneaking out or I will be very mad at you."

"Like I care! You don't listen to anything I have to say anymore so why should I listen to you?" she roughly picked up her bag and stormed to her room, slamming the door as loud as she could and collapsing onto her bed, screaming into her pillow.

Susan waited until she heard the door slam before letting out a small sob and trying to hold back her tears of dismay at yet another fight between her and her daughter.

"Oh Will, what am I going to do with you?" she asked quietly to the room.

~Ax~

_The moonlight lit up the bedroom through the split in the curtains as they fluttered gently from the breeze coming through the open window. It shone on the bed and onto the form of a curled up shaking red head, whilst she shivered from the unnatural cold._

_Dried tear marks were down her face and her cheeks were flushed from crying._

_There was a sudden movement from the corner of the room, a large figure seemed to step out of nowhere as he entered the room and stared down at the small vulnerable form on the bed. He slowly approached the bed, leaving dark burn like foot prints on the carpet, and crouched down so he was eye level with the girl, his violet eyes reflected the moonlight like a cats as he softly brushed some of her crimson hair behind her ear, and trailed his hand down and across her face till he cupped her chin._

_The girl's eyes snapped open but before she could yell or scream he placed his hand over her mouth and smirked at her fearful expression and raised his other hand up to his mouth, placing his pointer finger over his lips and revealing his sharp teeth._

"_Shhh…"_

_The girl's eyes began to droop, out of her control as he somehow managed to make her become absorbed in the darkness again._

"_That's right my dear, you will need all the rest you can get. Sleep well, young guardian…"_

_He stood back up and walked back towards the shadow in the corner of her room, staring at her intently for a moment, and then stepping back into the shadows, being absorbed by them completely. _

Will shot up in her bed with a gasp, breathing heavily as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. She hazardously checked over her arms and any other part of visible skin she could find, relived and laughing breathlessly when she saw no evidence of wounds.

_It was just a dream_, she told herself, laughing at her stupidity

Will got out of her bed and walked towards her wardrobe, stepping over the millions of frogs that littered the floor and picked out an outfit to wear. She was brushing her hair in the mirror when her eyes caught sight of the corner of her room, where _he_ had been.

_It was just a dream._ She reminded herself again, she nodded and kept repeating over and over in her head like a mantra.

She was starting to believe it herself when she saw something else in the reflection.

Her heart stopped and sped up a triple the speed, her breaths became ragged and her body froze, her grip going slack and making the brush clatter to the floor.

On her carpet was a burnt trail of footsteps, walking from the corner to her bed.

_Oh my god,_ she thought, _it wasn't a dream. He was actually here._

**A/N: Thanks for reading! :D**


	3. Silent Pleading

**A/N: I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to PhantomofDeath99, your reviews are what helped incourage me to post faster and keep writing this, THANK YOU! :D**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Three: Silent Pleading

Will shot up in shock as the teacher slapped a ruler onto her desk, making some in the class laugh at her, the guardians glare at the laughing students, and her teacher to sneer at her.

"Miss Vandom, care to explain why you were asleep in my class?"

"I was tired Sir…" she replied, not meeting his dangerous glare.

"Well I could tell, the bags under your eyes are enough of an indicator as it is. My question however, why are you sleeping now?"

"I-I don't know Sir, it wont happen again."

"Your right, it won't. But just as a reminder for you, detention after school until four."

Will groaned quietly and nodded her head slowly, leaning back in her chair with a sigh when he turned around.

"_Will, you okay over there?"_ asked Taranee from her position in the front of the class.

"_Yeah, I'm fine Tara, just a little tired."_ She finished this thought with an impressive jaw cracking yawn.

"_You seem to be more tired than usual Will… is there something you're not telling us about?"_ asked Cornelia.

"_It's nothing I need to worry you all about, just an argument with my mother, again."_

"_We sorta figured that when you didn't show up on Saturday."_ Irma thought.

"_Yeah, well sleep didn't come easy after that."_

"_Oh, so it was really bad huh?" _Hay Lin thought.

Will scoffed, _"Something like that Hay Hay."_

"Find something funny Miss Vandom? Do I need to increase your detention?"

"No sir."

"_Oops… sorry…"_

"_It's fine Hay Hay, nothing I'm not used to."_

Will then blocked off her thoughts from the other girls to think to herself for a while.

_I don't understand why I can't tell my friends about what happened, it's like whenever I try to tell one of them, my mouth refuses to work. Like something's stopping me…_

Will rubbed her eyes tiredly when a breeze came through the open classroom window. She glanced up at the window, turning back to the teacher a second later, only to freeze up and her eyes widen almost comically. Her head snapped back to the window and actually looked outside it and to the tree that her and her friends all sat under, or rather who was there.

It was him, the man from her dream. He stood in the tree's shadow casually, his hands in his pockets, as he stared at her with amusement in his violet eyes, the wind making his hair fly around his head.

Just as she was about to either mentally or verbally shout for her friends, he raised his finger to his lips again.

"_Shh…"_

Like a switch, all emotion left the young girl's face, leaving it blank. Her eyes becoming clouded as she stared directly back at his, she nodded slowly.

He smirked back at her, and then his body slowly began to fade into nothing, until all that was left was some black dust floating away in the wind, and two burnt foot prints.

"Miss Vandom, for the third time today! Is there something wrong with you girl?"

Will looked at the teacher with an unnerving stare.

"No sir; not with me at least. You are another story however." The whole class silently gasped as the teacher stared wide eyed at the girl who had slowly risen up from her desk.

"How dare you-!"

"It's only me though isn't it Sir? I'm the only one you hate this much. Is it because I look like her, Sir? Is it because I remind you of the one that left you?" she interrupted, tilting her head to stare him in the face with a calculating gaze.

"I don't know what you mean-"

"You still wear the wedding ring sir; my guess is she had the same hair as me, eyes perhaps. But that doesn't matter, what does matter is that whenever you look at my face, you see her. All the pain, all the anger, and all that hatred she caused when she cheated on you, when she left you. Am I right, Sir?"

She had slowly started to walk to the front of the class room until she was toe to toe with the teacher who looked as though he were going to burst with anger and pain.

"Collect your stuff. And leave my classroom"

Taranee paid rapid attention to her friend as she turned around to pick up her stuff, the way that when she stood up her eyes seemed to, yet again, refocus. The look of shock and confusion entered her eyes, before she turned to leave the classroom with a slight stumble; being followed by the student's shocked whispering.

Taranee clenched her pen harder, something was wrong with her friend, and she planned to find out what it was.

~Ax~

To say Will was scared would be an understatement.

Something along the lines of 'so terrified she could hyperventilate and die' would be more accurate.

When she left the classroom, the first place she went to was the tree, she sprinted as fast as she could down the empty corridor and slammed through the door to the outside of the school.

Reaching the tree in record time, Will scanned the area wildly for any sign of the strange man, praying against hope that it was just her exhausted mind playing tricks on her.

She almost choked on her tears when she saw the foot prints.

Will turned to run away from them, only to spin into someone's chest. She screamed in fear, the person shushed her gently.

"Will calm down, it's me, Caleb."

"Caleb?" she asked hopefully, looking up to his eyes that shone with concern.

"Yeah, I saw you in the hallway and called you but you didn't hear me."

"Oh god!" she threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing uncontrollably into his chest.

Even though he was a little shocked at her sudden outburst, Caleb wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his cheek on the top of her head, whispering soothingly into her ear.

"Will, its okay Will…"

"Caleb, please… get me away from here…"

"Where to Will?"

"I don't care, I just… I just gotta get away."

Caleb nodded and squeezed her gently, sweeping her legs out from beneath her and carrying her bridal style away from the school.

He didn't know exactly where to actually take the small red head, but decided that taking her back to her apartment would be best in her current hysterical state.

He didn't know what it was that made her so upset, or who in fact, but he would find out, and deal with them for what they did to the girl her secretly loved.

~Ax~

Caleb placed Will on her bed in her room, having already shut the curtains, and pulled her comforter up to her chin. He ran his hand through her crimson locks a few times before sighing slightly and kissing her forehead, standing up with intentions to leave her to rest.

A small delicate hand shot out from beneath the covers and latched onto Caleb's wrist, he looked down into her brown eyes that he adored, seeing the fear smouldering in them.

"No, please don't leave me here…"

"I won't ever leave you Will." He replied, she pulled him over to her bed and lifted the covers for him. He slid into the bed and placed an arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly to his chest as she leant into the warm, safe feeling she got from him.

Caleb ran his hands through her hair again whilst quietly humming a childhood song from Meridian, watching as she slowly calmed down and her breathing became even.

He stared at her peaceful face; it had been so long since he had seen her look so calm and serene, it was saddening, yet he felt happy and proud that it was _him_ that had made her fell that way.

He leant further back into the bed, curling an arm around he waist and pulling her closer, kissing her head again.

_If only I could tell you how much I love you…_

He soon fell into unconsciousness, none the wiser of the two glaring violet eyes coming from the shadows.

~Ax~

Caleb was awoken by someone shaking his shoulder lightly; he opened his bleary eyes and stared directly into the amused eyes of the one and only, Susan Vandom.

"Misses Vandom! I- I can explain!" he stuttered in a whisper shout, mindful of the resting girl besides him.

"No need to explain, I've heard all about the mysterious and elusive Caleb, and now I can finally put a face to the name." she said with a wink at the boy whose face was about the same shade as her daughter's hair.

"Thank you, whatever you did made her get some well needed sleep. She's had nothing but nightmares lately."

Caleb looked at her with interest.

"Oh? Does she say what they are about?"

"Well she tries, but I think they scare her, poor thing," she lightly rubbed Will's head with a small smile, "she can barely get a word out."

Susan looked back into the green eyes as they swirled with confusion.

"You know, even though we fight a lot, I still love my Little Red. She's the most important thing in the world to me."

"I know that Ms Vandom, and I know that Will does too."

Susan smiled teary eyed at the boy, before straitening up and gesturing him to do the same.

"Now, you had best be off, its getting late and if I know Hay Lin like I do, she will probably be jumping around all over the place looking for you."

Caleb laughed softly as he followed her out of the door, casting a loving glance at the red head, before quietly shutting the door and following her mother to the front door.

"Thank you for not, well… attacking me Ms Vandom." Susan chuckled at the fumbling boy.

"Think nothing of it," she replied, watching as he walked down the corridor and calling after him just before he reached the steps, "just to let you know, I approve of you."

Caleb looked confused for a moment, then realisation crept across his face and a large grin ran over his face along with a lighter blush.

"Thank you Ms Vandom." He replied, nodding respectfully and turning to continue walking down the stairs.

Susan chuckled to herself, yes, she did approve of that boy.

She closed the door and walked to sit onto the couch, deciding that, maybe she had forgotten about the phone call from the school she had received, and let Will get some rest.

~Ax~

Will's eyes snapped open.

She stared blackly at the space in front of her, waiting for the sound again.

"_Will…"_

She sat up straight in her bed, the time read 2:53 am but she hardly noticed, she was listening for the call.

"_Come to me Will…"_

She robotically stood up off of her bed, silently making her way to the front door. She pulled lightly on the handle, noticing it was locked, and instead of just pulling the latch across she simply yanked the door with unknown strength, making the lock snap and fall to the floor. Her mother didn't stir from her room so Will walked out of the door, leaving it open.

She trudged down the stairs, not even noticing her surroundings, only that she _needed_ to follow that voice, she _had _to do as it said.

She _must_.

"_Come my dear, hurry."_

She sped up her pace and was soon standing outside the apartment complex, facing the road in front of her that still had some cars speedily driving past.

She looked up with her fogged eyes and saw _him_ across the road. He smirked again and raised his hand, tilting it, indicating for her to go towards him.

She slowly walked forwards, each step bringing her closer to him. She had reached the curb of the road by now, completely unaware of the lorry barrelling down the road, and the sleepy man driving it. Instead she kept on looking forwards to the man who was still gesturing for her to go to him, she did as commanded.

She raised her foot and was about to step into the road when the man quickly turned his hand, facing his palm at her.

"_Stop."_

She gasped as the lorry shot past her, horn blaring, inches away from her face. She stumbled backwards and fell onto her backside, the confusion and adrenalin making her heart beat painfully fast.

She looked up and froze in fear.

The man with the violet eyes was now standing directly in front of her, staring at her with a cocky grin.

"W- What do you want with m-me?" she stuttered out as the man laughed and crouched down to her level.

"Whatever I want my love, you simply cannot refuse me." He replied, placing his hand onto her cheek lovingly, Will tried to flinch but yet again her body refused to do as she ordered it too.

She could do nothing as he leant forwards and placed his chilly lips onto hers, only mentally yell in shock as he pushed his tongue into her mouth and how her body seemed to be out of her control.

Her hands rose without her telling them to, and threaded them into his midnight black hair, her tongue moving with his and cutting it slightly on his sharp teeth.

After a few minutes, he finally pulled back, resting his forehead onto hers, and stared at her adoringly.

"Soon my love, I will not need to make you do that. It will be by your own free will."

Will tried to get her mouth to move, to yell, to curse, to do _something_ as he smirked again and stood to his full height.

"But for that to happen, I'm afraid you will have to suffer some, but it shall not be forever my love."

"I am not your love." She managed to ground out through her now working mouth.

"Not yet no, but soon, when my master has done what he has with you, he has promised you to me as payment. And then, you shall be mine."

He stepped back and once again faded to dust, floating away on the wind.

Will sat staring in horror at what she had learned, she then suddenly sat up and rubbed her mouth furiously, spitting onto the ground in disgust.

She couldn't believe what he had done, what he had said. He had somehow taken complete control over her body, used her like a puppet. Will was disturbed however, when she felt something stir in her mind at what he had done, and that something glowed with excitement, she shook her head angrily. She did not like that, that creep! She likes Caleb, she smiled a tiny bit, sighing when a drop of rain landed on her forehead and got up to run inside.

When inside she shut the door, trying to fix the lock and after failing put the chain across it. She looked at the time and noticed how late it was, realising there was no way she could sleep with all this adrenaline she went into the front room and turned the TV on quietly, huddling into herself.

She couldn't help glancing into the corners of the room and any dark places she could see fearfully, jumping whenever the lightning outside hit the ground or the sky thundered.

Will covered herself in cushions whilst she stared at the show on TV, not really paying attention to it, thinking more on this man, and why he was so interested in her.

Will didn't get any sleep that night.

**A/N: Thank you for reading :)**


	4. Secrets Revealed

**A/N: Thank you all so so much for all the responses I have gotten for this story! They really help me continue writing! :P *hugs!***

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

When her mother had woken up she had been shocked to find Will already awake and on the couch, Will had lied a little bit and said that the storm had woken her up, which her mother thankfully believed.

After a small panic attack from her mom about the door lock and the annoyed one sided conversation with herself about needing to call someone to fix it, Will's morning was quite normal, she only hoped it would stay that way.

Of course the world never listened to Will Vandom.

She sat alone at the tree by herself, enjoying the quiet day while she waited for her friends.

"Oh look who it is, all on her own."

_Just one day, one day, I want to have a calm, uneventful lunch._

"What do you want Blondie?" she asked lazily, keeping her eyes closed and her hands behind her back.

"What I want is for you to leave. Where are your friends anyway? Finally realised how much of an attention seeking weirdo you are?"

"No, I believe they are getting lunch."

"Do we have a problem over here?" asked a commanding voice; Will smiled and opened her eyes to see her knight in shining armour.

"N-no, I was just having a chat with Will over here," she said to Caleb, her 'secret' crush on him coming out full force.

"And that takes your entire cheering squad?"

The blonde blushed and seemed to choke on her words, _If I'm lucky, maybe she actually will choke._ Will thought when the girl regained her composure, _ar well, maybe another time._

The blonde threw a glare at Will.

"This isn't over bitch,"

"Oh I think it is, run along now." She replied, waving her hand dismissively to her, chuckling with Caleb as they all stormed off.

Caleb sat on the grass besides the red head and leant back on the tree, just waiting in the quiet.

"Thanks Caleb, for the other day I mean…" she said quietly, fiddling with her hands nervously.

"Its fine Will, I did what I could." He smiled at her and she smiled back slightly.

"It's just, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the other girls about what happened, I don't really want them to know that their 'oh so fearless leader' went into hysterics at school, you know?" she asked, looking Caleb in the eye as he nodded understandingly.

"I know the feeling, being the rebel leader means that I have to do the same when in front of my men," he turned to stare Will in the eyes seriously, "but you don't have to do that around us Will, we aren't just warriors, we are your friends first."

Will chose not to answer, nodding her head and closing her eyes.

Caleb watched her, saw the dark bags under her eyes, the pale skin and her slightly cut lips. He really didn't want to force her to tell him what was going on, but he had enough of waiting.

"Will, I didn't want to pressure you into doing this, but I fell as though I have waited long enough for an explanation. We are all worried about you; even your own mother knows something is wrong. From what I can tell this isn't something normal and I am asking you please, tell us what's happening." He looked to be almost begging her now, something Will would have once found funny from the egotistical rebel, but now she could only look on in sadness as her mouth refused to move and stare at him with pain.

The other guardians had arrived when Caleb finished speaking and sat down in a circle around Will, looking at her with hope that she could finally tell them.

"I-I can't…" she choked out.

"Yes you can Will, you can trust us with anything." said Taranee, leaning forwards.

"No, I actually c-can't physically te-ll you. H-he won't allow it…" her face scrunched up, her hands balling into her hair as she gritted her teeth together painfully, another wave of this unknown force trying to clamp her mouth shut.

Hay Lin prised one of her hands out of her hair and rubbed the back of it soothingly, wincing slightly when her grip started to get a little to strong.

Taranee looked deep in thought, trying to block out her worries for her friend and come up with a solution.

"How about, if you can't tell us that is, you show us instead?" the girls looked up to Taranee with confused expressions.

"What I mean is, if she is getting affected during the night, why not have like, a sleepover or something? That way we can see what happens…"

Will looked up at her, her friends holding their breath anxiously as her breathing eased out and she unclenched her fists.

"T-that might work…" she mumbled, glancing over her shoulder suspiciously.

_That was too easy_; she thought to herself, no way would he just make it that easy for her, _would he?_

"Then it's settled, sleepover at my house tonight, be there at five sharp, yeah?"

The girls all gave there confirmations to Irma, who turned to look at Will expectantly who had been lost in her own little world, coughing into her fist to get the red head's attention.

"Huh? Wha- oh erm, yeah, that sounds good." she replied, getting a nod from Irma.

"Sorry Caleb, my rents wouldn't allow a boy at an all girl sleepover."

Caleb sighed and reluctantly nodded, looking up into each of their eyes.

"But you guys look out for each other alright? I don't want any of you getting hurt by this creep." They nodded and relaxed into slouched positions, deciding to chill for the rest of the day, besides Will that is. She remained rigid as she tried to figure out why she felt angry at Caleb when he called that guy a creep. Like a darker part of her mind was angry he had insulted him.

She shook her head furiously and leant back onto the tree, smiling at Cornelia who had been watching her suspiciously, and closing her eyes once again, letting the light hearted chatter of her friends calm her.

~Ax~

"Okay so do you want the milk chocolate or the white chocolate mix?"

"Mom just give us the damn cookie dough!" exclaimed Irma as she reached for the box her mom was holding above her head.

"Well you aren't having both so which will it be?" she replied, moving the box away from her daughters swiping hands.

Irma grumbled and turned to her friends who, to her horror, were all either trying to hide their giggles or just openly laughing at her.

"Hey! It's not my fault my Mother is a giant!" she yelled with a flush coming to her face.

"She's not a giant Irma… your just a little midget." Cornelia managed to get out from behind her laughter.

"You know what then? Fine! You can all starve!" she pointed her nose up wards, closing her eyes as she marched out the door. At least she was aiming for the door, not the door frame.

As she fell to the floor, clutching her nose dramatically, the other girls laughed even louder, some even clutching their sides.

Her mother sighed in false annoyance, "Okay, okay fine. Just take the cookie mix." She held them out and it wasn't a second later that they were snatched out of her hands.

"Thanks Mom!" Irma exclaimed, hugging her for a second before grabbing Hay Lin and pulling her out of the room, "you are the lucky one who can help me prepare it Hay Hay!"

Hay Lin snapped out of her humour and started to claw onto the walls desperately.

"No, no! I don't want to get covered in cookie mix!" her voice slowly got quieter as she was dragged down the hall, Irma's evil laughter echoing from the kitchen.

A few hours later the girls were all still up, crowded in Irma's bedroom sat on sleeping bags whilst they chatted and laughed amongst themselves.

There was a knock on the door and Irma's Dad walked into the room, smiling at the excited girls.

"Now girls it's time for bed, I have to get up early for work tomorrow, I hope to get a decent nights sleep. Helps me catch the bad guys, you know?" he said with a grin, titling his head towards the group, "Night girls." He closed the door softly, the girl's replies of 'Goodnight' following him out.

After a lot of confusion about whose bed was whose, who sleeps where, where is my frog, they had finally settled down to bed.

Will was lying on her side, looking out of the bedroom window and at the full moon glowing outside of it.

She was nervous, that was an understatement. She didn't want the girls to see her so weak when she wakes up from the nightmare, see what happens to her. What if that freaky guy appeared again?

_Oh God this was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea. He could hurt them or make _her_ hurt them._

She looked over to the clock, the time was 12:37, her hands started to shake nervously and she broke out into a cold sweat. She didn't want to go through this again. She wanted this creep to leave her alone!

Hay Lin woke up at the sound of electricity buzzing. After quickly looking for any lights flickering or dodgy plug sockets she looked over to her friend. She mentally slapped herself for not looking at her first; she was practically a personal power conductor herself. Hay Lin was about to say something smart or otherwise offensive to the still awake guardian, but then she thought about the only times Will lost her control like that.

From her experience with her friend, it was either when she felt angry and/or annoyed, stressed out or when she needed to use it as a defence. And looking at the tense red head's shoulders, she could figure out which one it was.

"Will?"

The girl rolled over to look at her friend with a curious raised eyebrow.

"Yeah Hay Hay?"

"Are you okay? You were shooting sparkles around." Will smiled and shook her head dismissively.

"I'm fine Hay Hay, just very, _very_ tired." She yawned with an arm stretch and closed her eyes, waiting until she heard the Asian girl's, thankfully quiet, snoring. She reopened her eyes and stared out of the window again. Loosing herself in its pale glow.

~Ax~

Four of the five girls in the room were awoken by the painful sound of whimpering. They looked at each other in confusion until realisation dawned upon them all, Cornelia quick walked over to Will, patting the girl's shoulder to wake her up.

"What's going on? Tara, can you see if you can link us or something?" she asked Taranee who was gently clutching her head.

"I've been trying, it's like she has her mental block up or something." She responded with a grimace.

"But we can only do that when awake, that's how you were able to transmit my dream when I fell asleep in class that one time." said Irma, seriously for once.

"But didn't Will fall asleep in class yesterday? Did you get a read on her then?" asked Hay Lin.

"No, now I think about it, I got nothing from her…" Taranee trailed off.

"C'mon Will, wake up." Cornelia said after Will let out another pained gasp.

"Will can you hear me? Wi-" Irma had pushed Will's shoulder which made her roll over onto her other side, showing her friends the black vine like thing about two inches thick stuck to the base of her skull that was connected to the shadow on the floor, pulsing with purple every so often which made Will gasp out.

"What the hell is that?!" Hay Lin whisper yelled, covering her mouth in shock.

"I don't know! Try pulling it out!" Taranee replied hurriedly, Irma quickly grasped the base of the vine and tugging it lightly. Will screamed, her face consorting in agony as she flinched away from Irma who quickly let go of it.

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you."

All the girls turned to the corner of the room that was shrouded with shadows, going into defensive positions.

"Whose there?" asked Cornelia, glaring into the corner.

"Not that you need to know, but I am Damien." The figure replied, stepping out of the shadows gracefully, amusement shining in his violet eyes at the sight of the guardians.

"You, you're the one that's been tormenting Will!" shouted Taranee, her hands lighting up with fire. Damien clapped mockingly.

"Well done, give the girl a medal." He laughed at her, making her eyes blaze with fire.

The other girls quickly summoned some of their element, Hay Lin's hands being surrounded by small circular tornados, Cornelia summoning some earth from outside the window, smashing it in the process and Irma bringing in some of the water from her garden.

Damien laughed again, more manically however.

"I wouldn't waste your time, you will only get hurt. All I want is my beloved and you can remain unharmed." Irma scoffed.

"_Your_ beloved? Hate to break it to ya pal but I think she's quite smitten with our Rebel Leader." Damien's happy expression swiftly changed to one of hatred.

"That _boy_ cannot even dream to offer her the things I can." he snarled, baring his teeth threateningly.

"That's beside the point, your not having her!" Hay Lin yelled at him, forgetting about the other people asleep in the house.

Damian growled, his pupils turning into cat like slits.

"Then you shall have to fight for her."

He raised his hands into the air; seemingly able to summon the shadows from the darkness ad make them revolve around his hands. He bought his hands together with an almightily slam, sending out a shockwave that knocked the girls off of their feet and against the walls. Hay Lin hit her head on the wall and crumpled to the floor unconscious. Irma looked at her best friend in horror, shouting out her name as she ran towards her crumpled form on the ground.

Taranee looked upon the smirking man with hatred, yelling out in anger as she brought her hand back and launched the strongest fire ball she could at him. He raised his hand facing palm out, absorbing the fire ball into the shadows that surrounded it and sending off one of his own. It struck the shocked girl in her chest and she flipped in the air, landing in a rough heap on the floor, clutching her chest painfully.

Cornelia threw her arms out to the side, making several pointed rocks fire at him, instead of moving however, he stood and waited for them to come. When they were close to him he threw his right arm out in a sweeping motion, making all the rocks disintegrate into black dust. Cornelia didn't even have time to react as he sent out another shockwave, sending her flying into the wall again and making her feel dazed.

He laughed again at them, shaking his head. He walked over to Will's prone form on the ground, still withering in pain. He knelt down to her and placed a gentle kiss onto her lips, the stress left her features as she relaxed into his arms, he laid his fingers onto the cord coming from the base of her skull, making it fade away.

The guardians could do nothing as he stood up with their friend cradled in his arms.

The shock of the situation had gotten to Irma, seeing her fellow guardians so easily defeated made her feel scared. Something she hadn't felt in a long time. So she did the only thing she could in her current state of mind and situation.

"DAAAD!" she shouted repeatedly until she could hear the sound of her Mom, Dad and brother running to her room.

Damien cursed under his breath as he glared at the water guardian.

"This is hopefully the last time I will see any of you again. If you are wise, you will not come after us."

A glowing purple orb came from over his heart and quickly enveloped the two of them in its glow, making them fade away in black dust when Irma's door was almost ripped off its hinges by her Dad

"Irma! What's happened?!" shouted her Mom as she rushed to her daughter's side, checking for any injury as her Dad looked at her other friends.

Irma was beyond hysterical by now, choking on her tears as she looked at her friends lying injured on the floor.

"T-t-he-re w-was a-a man a-and he-" she sniffed loudly, "he c-came in a-and at-tacked us," she turned to her Dad with urgency in her eyes, "Dad! He took Will!"

Her Dad's eyes turned to steel as he scanned around the room again taking in the smashed window and glass, "Is he gone Irma?" he asked through gritted teeth. Irma shakily nodded her head.

He turned to his wife, "Call an ambulance, I'm going to go call for some back up."

Anna nodded seriously and picked up her cell phone whilst Tom left the room, passing Chris who was still stood frozen in the doorway.

"Its okay sweetheart,'' Anna said, "we will find Will, and your friends will be okay." She said reassuringly to her daughter, though she could not believe the words herself. Irma didn't seem to hear her, as she clutched Hay Lin close to her chest while tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

**A/N: sorry for giving you guys _another_ cliff hanger type thing... Thanks for reading! :P **


	5. Gone

**A/N: Sorry for this being later than usual, it's Easter and I spent the Weekend with my family eating eggs and playing cards :P**

**I also want to say thank you to all my reviewers, follows and faves, thank you all! :D**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Five: Gone

Hay Lin groaned at the continued beeping sound that was screaming down her left ear. She tried to move her hand but found it to be weighed down by something, something warm. She cracked open her eyes, only to shut them a moment later at the bright lights.

"Hay Hay? Are you waking up? Please tell me you are, I am so freaking bored sitting here."

_Irma?_ Hay Lin thought, tightening her hold on the warm object which she now presumed was a hand, she tried once again to open her eyes and after many failed attempts, managed to squint at the blurry figure above her who was slowly changing into the image of her best friend.

"Oh thank God you've woken up!" Irma yelled, catapulting herself at the smaller girl and encasing her in a hug.

"Irma? What's going on? Where are the others?" Hay Lin asked, her throat feeling a little scratchy. Irma wordlessly held out a glass of water from the table besides the bed, pressing a button on the wall.

"They are waiting at Cornelia's place; we were waiting for you to wake up before we go to Candracar." Hay Lin frowned up at her friend and arched her eyebrow in confusion.

"Candracar? Why would we need to go there?"

"You don't remember?" Irma asked, her eyes filling with some fear and equal amounts of sadness.

"A little bit… we were at your place right? I remember the cookie mix… and Will's hair being all sparkly and…" she trailed off and rubbed her forehead, trying to rid it of the headache that had appeared.

"And that's it? You don't remember anything else?"

"No… I mean, maybe I just-" Hay Lin cut herself off with a gasp as the memories came flooding back to her.

_The vine, that guy, the fight, me getting hit… what happened?!_

She looked suddenly to the water guardian who was fiddling with her hands nervously, tears building up in her eyes.

"Irma what happened?"

Irma looked up and Hay Lin almost gasped again at the raw emotion in her blue-green eyes, something she knows the brunette prefers to hide behind her sarcasm and humour, and for her to have let that barrier down…

Irma went to open her mouth when the door opened and a man in his early thirties walked in with a clipboard and a lab coat on. His hair was brown and slicked back, with glasses perched on the edge of his nose, his eyes were a light grey.

"Miss Lin, it's good that you are awake at last." He said with a cheery smile, walking over to check the heart monitor machine, which Hay Lin now figured out, was the source of the constant beeping she had to endure.

"At last? How long was I asleep?" she asked the two people in the room, looking from the doctor to Irma questioningly.

"For a few days, that was quite a nasty head wound you received, you should be able to be discharged today however."

"Head wound?" Hay Lin asked, reaching up to touch her forehead and felt the gauze wrapped around it, "how did I get a head wound?"

The doctor looked at Irma with a raised eyebrow, "I take it you haven't told her yet?"

"No I was getting round to it when you walked in."

"Well I shall just step outside for a moment, take all the time you need."

He walked out of the room and closed the door firmly behind him.

"Irma, spill. What happened after I blacked out?"

"Well we tried to fight the guy off but, he was, so strong that... there was nothing we could-"

She cut herself off and hung her head, ashamed.

"Irma? What happened?"

She looked back up into the air guardian's eyes.

"Hay Lin… he took Will."

~Ax~

It was a day later that Hay Lin was allowed out if hospital after her hysteric crying, it was a further four hours later that her parents let Irma take her to Cornelia's house, it was one more hour that they decided to try and contact Candracar, and thirty minutes until they actually got there.

The guardians and Caleb all walked into the assembly room with grim expressions, looking up to the Oracle who looked at them sadly.

"So it is true? The guardian of Quintessence has been taken from us?" he asked gravely.

"Oracle, we are sorry sir, we tried to protect her." Cornelia said, bowing her head with the other teenagers.

"Oracle, how did you not see it happening? I thought you could watch us and what we do?"

"Normally I would have been able to Taranee, and perhaps I could have prevented this. But the last thing we saw of you all before the attack was Will beginning to have a nightmare."

"Then how did you know she was, taken from us?" asked Hay Lin.

"Her Auramear, it had faded to a much duller colour and had become hazy. We guessed that was what had happened."

"Sir, if you don't mind me speaking, I feel like I might have some information on what took Will."

The Oracle looked at the rebel and gestured for him to continue.

"From what I can tell from what the other guardians have told me, this man fits the description of a person all on Meridian have been bred to fear. He was much like the monster in horror stories told to children, only in these stories the monster wasn't slain, there wasn't a happy ever after. Legends say that his eyes are black and purple, showing his soul as it was, dark and cold. His skin pale and dead as he should be his teeth sharp and venomous made for devouring victims.

"The legend goes that this man was once a solider, the best there ever was. He was under the command of the three Kings; they ruled over the land and sought to destroy all that was dark and evil. The three Kings thought that the solider was strong enough that he could defeat their strongest enemy. The creature had no recordable name, it was simply known by those under his service as Master. The Master was a ruthless killer who had destroyed many lives and the three kings wanted it stopped.

"The man was sent to the Master's home. A place that none have been able to find since, _groapă al sufletelor_, which roughly means 'Pit of Souls'. When he entered he expected to be met with many great beasts or obstacles though he met none. He made it into a large chamber that was lit only with a few blue flames on the walls; the solider had stepped into the room and thought it empty when he heard the voice.

"'_**You have finally arrived; I have spent many a millennia waiting for a specimen like yourself.'**_

'_Who is there?' _the man had asked, searching everywhere he could see in the large room.

'_**That is none of your concern little one, though I must ask, why is it you have come here?'**_

'_I was sent by my three Kings, they told me that I must destroy the Master.'_

He was answered by an earthshaking laugh as the beast found humour in his statement.

'_**And you have never betrayed their word I believe? What's to happen if your mission was unfinished?'**_

'_Then I shall be punished for my failures.'_

'_**And you think that is the life a fine warrior like yourself should lead! If you were with me then I would treat you with more respect than either of those fools you call **__**Kings**__**. You should join me, and rule with me.'**_ The creature's words had made the young solider falter, trying to understand what he was saying. He had never been given a choice or his own free will to do with what he pleased. But he couldn't. He had a family to care for.

'_I cannot accept your offer; my loyalties are to the three kings and my family.'_

'_**For now…'**_the beast had replied, before his voice faded into the mists.

The solider made his way back to the three kings and retold his story in front of the whole court. Many did not believe him when he said how welcoming the beast had been, how he had not harmed him at all. Unfortunately the three kings felt threatened, they did not want a young man to have a bond with the Master and felt they must deal with him.

"The following night the young solider and his family were captured and dragged to the gallows, the whole city appearing to watch the execution of the Traitor and his family. The three Kings made sure to let the solider watch as his family were executed, ignoring his pleads of mercy as the crowed drowned him out with their cheers. They had dragged him up to the gallows and placed the rope around his neck when he heard the voice in his head.

"'_**Do you wish for the power to destroy those who have destroyed your heart and your soul? To have the power to choose their fates?'**_

'_Yes.'_

"With that the floor fell inwards and he dropped down, his neck snapping. The crowd cheered when it was done, happy his life was ended. Then the corpse began to twitch. The body rose up off of the ground and into the air and before their eyes the man began to change. When he had taken his new form he opened his eyes and their unnatural violet colour glared hatefully at the three men sat frozen on their thrones.

"He managed to control them, the shadows. He brought them to life and made them attack the villagers in the most brutal of ways. Some were skinned, others devoured, and some ripped apart. He tore through the entire city and left no one alive.

"When he was done he realised in horror as the full impact of his actions set in, he had sold his soul to the Devil. He spent the next few years trying to find ways to destroy himself, discovering that every time he died he would come back in perfect health. He finally gave up and found himself outside the cave where it had all began.

"He knelt down onto the ground and bowed his head.

'_I join you, my master.'_

The shadows absorbed his body inside of the cave and ever since he has been working for the Master, killing for joy and destroying for fun. He became known by another name, Shadow Lord. He still walks till this day, forever under his master's power."

Everyone stared at Caleb with wide eyes, absorbing the hidden story that not even Candracar had heard of.

"And you think, that man has Will?"

"No Irma, I'm most certain of it." Caleb replied, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"But why? Why would he work for such a creature?"

"It was told that once you have agreed to join the beast then it is only he that can re-take your life. Everything else is futile."

"Any Caleb, is this cave still identified?" the Oracle asked.

"No sire, though there have been rumours that it is under the castle of Phobos himself. Over the years many have gone into find it yet none have returned. The mission was abandoned and none have tried to find it since."

"So, Will's at Phobos' castle?"

"No, Cornelia, you cannot head straight into the castle without knowing if it is true or not, without Will or the Heart of Candracar you are all much weaker and more venerable."

"Then what is it you suggest we do, Sir?" Cornelia asked through gritted teeth, slightly angry at the Oracle.

"There is a solider from Phobos' castle that your rebels have captured Caleb, if you go there then you can interrogate him and if you return here with decent enough information then you shall go to the castle and search for the lost guardian."

"But what about our powers Oracle? You said so yourself, we are weaker without Will." Hay Lin said.

The Oracle nodded to behind them and they all turned to see someone in white robes walk through the door with four small penny sized gems. They were different colours, one a light blue, another darker blue, one orange and the final green.

"These will aid you until you are reunited with the Heart and Will. They are parts of your Auramear; each will change you into your guardian forms as you call out your element's name," The girls all took one of the gems and put them around their necks, watching as they hummed with light for a few seconds before fading back into their normal colours, "once you are reunited with Will they will absorb back into the Heart and you will have your full powers back again."

They nodded and thanked the Oracle.

"Now, go to Meridian and talk to this solider. Find out what he knows and report back to Candracar when you have finished."

"Yes Oracle," the teenagers all nodded and as the Oracle nodded back, disappeared in a beam of light.

~Ax~

"Just tell us what you know!"

The solider spat at Aldarn's feet.

"I tell nothing! I am no traitor!"

Aldarn raised his hand and backhanded the guard across the face, the solider spat blood onto the floor.

"The rebellion will fall and you will all suffer the consciences of your treachery!"

"That's it! I've had it with this useless pile of dung!" Aldarn growled, unsheathing his sword from his belt and raising it above his head, bringing it down with a yell.

"Aldarn stop!"

Aldarn managed to stop the blade from penetrating the guard's skull as he turned around angrily to face the person behind him.

"And who do you thi-!"

He cut himself off as Caleb stepped into the room and seethed his sword, hanging his head guiltily.

"I'm sorry friend; this guard has been trying my patience _all day_."

"Its fine Aldarn, I too have been feeling ill tempered lately."

"Why is that?"

"Another time perhaps, but at this moment I need to interrogate the prisoner."

Aldarn scoffed and stepped back.

"Be my guest."

Caleb walked towards the guard and roughly grabbed his chin, yanking it p so he could meet his gaze.

"Now listen here, you are going to tell me all I need to know about a certain room in Phobos' castle. I believe you would have heard of it, it's called _groapă al sufletelor_."

Caleb ignored the gasp he heard from Aldarn and continued to stare emotionlessly into the eyes of the now panicking guard.

"N-no! I will not talk about that place… it's merely a myth." He stuttered out.

"If it is only a myth then why are you so scared to talk about it?"

The guard glared, "I am afraid of nothing, most certainly not rebel fools who actually think they stand a chance of winning this war!"

"Is that so?" asked a voice from the doorway, "then how about four very angry and upset Guardians of Candracar? Scared of that?" Cornelia asked with a deadly glare set on the now quivering creature that was tied down, struggling against his bonds.

"N-n-no. I am not!" he yelled in false confidence.

"Well we are going to have to change that aren't we?" Taranee asked with fake humour, sending a fire ball exploding to his feet.

The guard yelped in fear as the girls all brought forth some of their element, Caleb stepping back against the wall with Aldarn. He looked from all the Guardians, seeing the determination in their eyes and gulping when he saw no faltering from either of them.

"Fine! Fine, I will tell you all that I know."

"Where is the _groapă al sufletelor_?" Caleb asked glaring at the guard.

"We don't know where it is exactly, but we do know that it is very deep in the castle. We all try to avoid going there because of the feeling we all get from it. I caught a glimpse of it once when I was just starting as a solider. A man was being taken there to be destroyed for his crimes. The entrance behind the door looked just like a normal cave, but when the man stepped into the shadows, they came to life. I left just as the man's body began to be torn apart."

The guardians shared a worried look, if that was where Will was taken…

Caleb marched forwards and grabbed the guard's shoulders.

"Where is Will?"

"… Will?"

"The Guardian of the Heart! She was taken a few days ago."

"I-I don't know!" he was met with a punch in the jaw, "honestly I don't! I mean, I saw her getting dragged kicking and screaming to the torture chamber but that's all! I swear on it!"

"What happens in the torture chamber? What would happen to Will?" Irma asked though she did not want to know.

"It depends on her crimes but for being a guardian alone I would imagine it would not be pretty."

"So she's being tortured." Hay Lin asked her angry expression turning into one of complete sadness as her eyes filled up with tears.

"I- I'm not sure."

All eyes snapped to the guard.

"What do you mean? How?"

"Well the man she was with was the Shadow Lord. He seemed possessive of her. I'm not certain he would allow her to be tortured…"

"Yet he sent her to the Torture chamber?"

"That's just what I saw."

Caleb looked to Aldarn, "We are done here, put him in the cells."

Aldarn nodded and called in five more men who helped to drag the guard out of the room.

"So… now what do we do?"

"Simple, we go to Candracar to tell them what happened, then we go save Will."

"Easy peasy then, right?" Caleb nodded at Irma and they teleported out of the rebel base and back to Candracar.

~Ax~

Will groaned as a pain shot down her neck, she reached back to rub it only to find she could not move her hand. She looked down after hearing a clinking sound and was confused when she saw the large bulky shackles around her wrists.

She looked down at herself and tried to see in the darkness of this strange place. From what she could make out, she was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair with the thick heavy chains that were attached to the shackles going underground. She also had two more shackles around her ankles and one big one around her waist. Wherever she was, someone didn't want her too leave.

She looked down at the shackles around her wrists and gave it a yank; instead of hearing the sound of it creaking she heard the sound of her screams. As soon as she had pulled on the chain something close to an electric current flared up around every inch of her body, it felt as though someone were burning her cell by cell and slowly ripping her apart. She screamed for around ten seconds until the pain stopped.

She gulped down air heavily for a few minutes; still feeling the after effects of… whatever that was, in her muscles. She looked down at her hands and saw blood around her finger tips where they had been sliced from her grabbing at the chair's arms.

"I would advise against doing that my dear, I don't want you to be hurt anymore than you need to be."

Will's head snapped up at the sound of his voice and their gazes met, the one who had ruined her life.

"Damien."

"Oh so you heard my little exchange I had with your friends?"

"Yes, I heard everything! What did you do to them?" she yelled, accidently pulling hard on the chains and before Damien could reply she started to scream in pain.

"I do so whish you did not have to feel that pain love, it's very upsetting to watch."

"Don't lie to me, I know you enjoy watching me suffer you psycho, that's why you stalked me, haunted my dreams."

"No, I did not want to do that. My Master commanded me to, I'm sorry love."

"Stop calling me love!"

"Why should I stop?" he asked, a confused frown etching onto his brow.

"Because, I am not your love, dear, sweetheart or anything!"

"But soon you will be, you will become my partner and we will live together in eternal happiness as one."

"I'm only fifteen! I don't think about people like that." Her reply was scratchy from all her screaming and yelling.

Damien was quickly in front of her, holding onto the chair's arms and denting them slightly.

"Yet you feel some fraction of that emotion for that Rebel boy. What can he give you that I cannot? I can give you power, strength, love, immortality! He could only give you a minor section of his love for you in one small life time when I could give you as much as you want for hundreds of life times!"

"Well at lest Caleb didn't force me to love him, and he certainly didn't kidnap me either!"

"Enough." Damien said in a commanding voice, Will's jaws were clamped shut and her tongue felt as though it was glued to the roof of her mouth.

"I will forgive you for your insolence my love, for I know this is not you talking. And you know that you feel for me in some way, deep inside. Once this has been completed, once my Master has helped you, we shall be as one." He finished by giving the red head a soft chaste kiss on her lips.

"And I am sorry my dear, so very sorry, for what you must go through first for that to happen, as I had to, so many years ago."

As he said this Will felt something tingle up her spine. She looked behind her and saw nothing there; she turned back around and saw that Damien had once again disappeared.

_Where is he now? _She thought to herself in frustration.

Something caught her eye on the ground by her feet; she looked down and yelped at what she saw. The shadows had come alive, just like in her dream, encasing her legs and creeping up her body until it reached her head, leaving a cold trail as it moved. Will began to thrash away from it as it came closer and closer to her face but in doing so pulled too hard on the chains and once again started to scream as she was burnt from the inside. Whilst her mouth was open the fog sped up and crawled into her mouth, forcing itself down her throat. Will's eyes went wide as she slowly came back to her senses and saw the last of the shadow fog go into her mouth, felt it go down her throat. Will coughed hard when she felt its coldness spread down her body, coughs which soon started to sound more and more strangled as the shadow began to move inside her body.

Will threw her head back in pain as she started to scream inhuman screams, clutching the chair tighter and causing more blood to flow from her fingers and wrists.

Damien's face consorted into sadness and agony at watching the girl thrash and scream, cursing his master not for the first time for making him do something he had no control over. He wished he didn't have to do this, wished that he could take the pain for her, but alas, he had to watch as the girl he wished to be his let out horrifying screams.

"I am so sorry my love… so sorry."

**A/N: I feel kinda bad for what happend to Will... :S I will get over it! xD**

**And Thanks for reading!**


	6. Into The Darkness

**A/N: Thank you all for your contiuned support of my story, it really does help motivate me to write faster seeing all the lovely responses I get from you guys :D**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Six: Into The Darkness

Will opened her eyes, blinking away the tiredness as she tried to look around herself again. Her throat was so sore from all her screaming, her muscles aching from her struggling, and her head hurt from all the tormenting thoughts.

_**They aren't coming are they?**_

She thought bitterly. Of course they weren't coming, why would they? It was all so clear to her now. They only pretended to be her friends for the Heart, for their powers. None of them cared, not even Caleb.

_No, that's not true. I can't let these thoughts trick me!_

It seemed as though she were going insane now. It was almost laughable, her own mind couldn't even agree with itself, arguing against one another as though they were different beings.

_**Trick me? How**_ _**could they be tricking me? It's the truth. I've always known it was the truth.**_

_If it was a trick then why would they help and protect me when I need their help?_

_**Probably a cover up, they wouldn't want me to leave, wouldn't be able to transform then could they?**_

_What about Caleb? He doesn't even need the Heart yet he still loves me-_

_**Love? Ha, what a joke. He didn't love me, none of them did. It's the Heart, the Heart of Candracar that started this whole mess.**_

_But I know deep down that this is all lies, the shadows are planting these thoughts into my head. They are not true!_

_**What do I know of the truth?**_

_Enough for me to fight a little longer. I can't give up yet, they are coming, I just need to be strong for a while longer._

_**That's if they even come.**_

Will flinched at her thoughts, not sure which one to believe, she was so confused. So hurt, so scared, and _so_ confused.

She hung her head, whimpering as another round of arguing started up in her head; she didn't know what to do. Will slumped down into the chair; she couldn't give up just yet. She had Cornelia, Taranee, Irma, Hay Lin, her mother, her family. Her Caleb.

They were all still depending on her to last a little longer. So she would try to hold on to what little sanity was left in her.

_But how long can I last?_

~Ax~

"Earth!"

"Water!"

"Air!"

"Fire!"

In a blast of multicoloured light the guardians called out their element's names and slowly fluttered to the ground.

"I guess it was a good idea for you to do that now rather than later." Caleb said from his position at the top of the tree, keeping a look out for any patrols.

"I guess you were right there." Cornelia replied, raining her hand to make the branch Caleb was perched on wrap around his waist and easily bringing him to the ground.

"Thanks,"

"Your welcome."

"So question, how are we going to do this?" Irma asked sceptically, eyeing the large castle wall.

"We do have these things on our back you know? They are called wings."

Irma rolled her eyes at Taranee and grabbed Caleb under one of his arms, Hay Lin getting his other one. The four girls quietly flew up the castles walls and landed on the other side in a shady patch of the courtyard.

They all held their breath and waited for the oncoming attack from the lookout and Phobos' soldiers, Caleb grasping his swords handle firmly. They were all confused when after a few moments of standing in defensive positions none of the soldiers actually noticed them.

"What are they blind?" Hay Lin whispered.

"Yeah, I know that they were dumb but not _this _dumb." Irma whispered back disbelievingly.

"What does it matter? They are stupid and cannot see us, so I say we go stealth for as long as we can. Avoid as much combat as possible." The guardians nodded in agreement and they were soon on the move, weaving their way between podiums and around corners, making their way as deep into the castle as they could.

"This isn't right… it's too easy…" Cornelia muttered, glancing around anxiously.

"Hey!" a deep voice yelled out, making Cornelia squeak in surprise and turn around, flicking her wrist to make part of the ceiling crumble and hit the guard on his head, effectively knocking him out and blocking off the entrance.

The five all froze, straining their ears for any sounds. They were not disappointed. The heavy footprints of a hundred or so soldiers could be heard coming down the corridor. The five teenagers turned to face the sound, their eyes widening at the sight of the guards running at them.

"Way to go Corny!" Irma yelled, getting a glare from the blonde.

"There are too many of them here, we need to split up and meet back up by the dungeons. Got it?" the girls all nodded and at the next two way corridor split up, Taranee going with Cornelia, Caleb going with Hay Lin and Irma.

~Ax~

No more. She could not fight anymore! She felt trapped in her own mind as the pain fell over her body in powerful waves, forcing her to scream herself raw.

She had tried to keep whatever semblance of sanity she had left and ignore the darker voice arguing with her, but everyone gets tired eventually.

Soon, everyone gives up.

She could feel as her light inside began to fade away in the eternal darkness that had slowly consumed her body and soul. Her resolve against the voice had started to crack.

_They are never coming are they?_

_**No of course not, I was right. I mean nothing to them.**_

Will shook as silent tears rolled down her battered cheeks.

_**I am just an obstacle that they have in their way to their true powers.**_

She froze as the sadness slowly started to fade into something more.

_**They have no real connection to me.**_

Something Primal she had buried deep inside.

_**No friendship, no love.**_

It had started to come alive to her, she felt more alive, more…

_**They. Mean. Nothing.**_

…Powerful.

Will felt something click in the back of her mind and she slumped forwards. Before Will could fade out completely, she felt a strange sensation from the base of her skull spread around her body, just as the pain started to ignite her body she passed out into the darkness.

~Ax~

"These guys don't give up!" Cornelia shouted as she ran down the corridor with Taranee, the hallway was too narrow for both of them to fly so they both ended up running away from the group of around 30 guards pursuing them.

Taranee yelped, ducking down when an arrow embedded itself into the wall by her head and igniting the wall.

"And they've got bows too! Give us a break!" she yelled, pausing to send a wave of fire to disintegrate some or the arrows but not managing to destroy them all.

"There're to many of them!" she exclaimed, running around the corner and narrowly dodging more of the arrows.

Cornelia stomped her foot on the ground and rose both of her arms palm up, a wall of earth spread from the ground up and onto the ceiling.

"Do you think that'll hold them?" she asked, panting breathlessly to her friend.

"I don't know, I don't really want to stick around to find out either, c'mon." she gestured with her hand and the both of them started to slowly jog down the corridor.

They had been moving for about five minutes when they heard a whooshing sound.

"Get down!" Taranee shouted, ducking when four flaming arrows hit the wall and the strange slimy substance that was on it. As soon as the fire made contact with the slimy stuff on the wall, it exploded with a load bang. Cornelia was sent flying into another wall on one side of the corridor, groaning when she felt back on her head and looked at her hand to see some blood. Taranee had been sent down the other side of the corridor; she sat up with her ears ringing painfully. She shook her head lightly only to yelp and cradle it in her hands.

_Okay… no shaking…_ she thought to herself.

"Ta-ran-ee… Tara- Taranee! Are you okay?" she heard Cornelia from the other side of the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling, blocking them off.

"Yeah I-I'm alright," She slowly stood up and towards the rubble wall, leaning against it and staring down at her bloodied hand, "can you move this rock?"

"If I had time too, but it sounds like the soldiers are almost done breaking through that other wall… I won't have enough time to-"

"Its okay, go. I will find a way out of this… room." Taranee interrupted her, looking around the dark dead-end that she had lit with a fire ball in the palm of her hand. The only feature she could see was a metal circular lid attached to the ground.

"Okay, fine. But I'm coming to find you again! Got that?"

"Got it, good luck." She heard the blonde say the same to her, listening as she ran down the hallway and the sound of heavy foot falls following her.

Taranee shook aside her worry for her friend and stepped up to the metal circle on the floor. It looked just like a manhole cover would except it looked heavier and thicker. Taranee threw the fire ball into the air and let it hover over her so she could get a firm grasp on the handle. She pulled as hard as she could for a few minutes, falling back in defeat when it wouldn't even budge. An idea sparked into her head and she stood up, staring down at the metal disk, clicking her knuckles in preparation.

She put one hand on top of the other and with a grunt, pushed them both down so they were just above the metal. When they had stopped moving a spark went off, and then the fire came out. It was like she had made her own blow torch as she ran it around the metals edge, the fire a bright white colour. Taranee let out some tired gasps at the amount of pressure she was applying to herself, this being the strongest fire she had ever made during her time as a guardian.

After a while Taranee ran out of power and with a groan slumped onto her back, breathing deeply and whipping the sweat off of her brow. She stood up again and looked down at the metal circle, grinning in satisfaction when she saw that the outline was now a bright sizzling orange colour, dented inwards from the pure heat from her flame and had several holes along the edge from where the metal had just collapsed inwards.

Taranee bent down and got a firmer grasp on the handle, giving it a stronger pull than before. She could have jumped for joy when she felt it jerk upwards.

After much more pulling and straining Taranee finally pulled the metal disk off with a hard tug. She threw the metal aside and got onto her hands and knees, looking down the dark hole curiously.

"I can't see an ending…" she mumbled to her self, raising her fist with another fireball on it and sending it down, watching as the flickering orange ball faded into nothing as it kept going down the dark tunnel.

_You're doing this for Will; you're doing this for Will! _She chanted to herself as she sat down and swung her legs over the edge, letting them dangle dangerously.

_Will had better thank me for this._

And with that she took a deep breath and pushed off from the ledge, trying to hold back her frightened screams as she fell further and further into the black hole.

~Ax~

Irma, Caleb and Hay Lin had, after running around and confusing the brainless guards, gotten away from their followers. Now they were walking slowly down a dark hallway that had something sticky on the walls, flaming torches, bones littering the floor, and cobwebs hanging in corners.

"This place is creepy…"

"Hay Lin, its just spider webs."

"Spider webs? All this creepy stuff in here and its spiders webs that scare you?"

"Shut up Caleb, they freak me out! I think it shouldn't be legal for something to have over six legs and four eyes. Over that is my limit!"

Irma shook her head and looked at Caleb, "She's had this irrational fear of spiders since I first met her, it could be a money spider and she would freak out. I always had to get them out of the room whenever they are there as well. Funny at first, but annoying over time."

They walked on until a large open room came into view, the only light source coming from a large glowing green thing from the ceiling.

Hay Lin stepped into the room carefully, keeping an eye out for most parts of the circular room, noticing the other door on the opposite side of the room.

"Oh look, over here!"

"Hay Lin no!" Caleb shouted, but it was too late. Hay Lin had already started to run across the room and before either of them could react, into a large thick, barely visible web that quickly entangled her in it.

"Hay Lin!" Irma yelled, sprinting over to the struggling Air guardian.

"Get me out of here!" she squealed.

"I'm trying!" Caleb grunted back, drawing his belt knife out of its hiding spot and trying to slice through the thick sticky silk like thread, groaning in annoyance when it kept firm and did not break.

"Come on Caleb! Put your back into it!"

"I am trying!"

"Well try harder!"

Caleb stopped and gave Irma an annoyed look, "Do you wanna try?"

Irma opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a strange sound.

"W-what was that?" Hay Lin asked, nervously glancing to the sides of the room.

"Shh," Caleb hushed her, listening for the sound again. They heard it again, only it was behind them this time, they all snapped their heads in its direction.

"It's circling us…" Caleb whispered, straining his ears for that scuttling sound again.

"G-G-guys! I think I know what it is!" Hay Lin whispered, her voice freezing in her throat as she stared at the creature in front of her, the others turned also, their jaws touching the ground at the sight of it.

"Acromantula…" Caleb said in shock, staring at the beast before him. It had black fur that had a green tinge because of the glowing orb on the ceiling, covering its bulking frame that could dwarf an elephant in size, its eight eyes were a darker black that glistened in the green light, and its leg span was up to fifteen feet. It had a giant pair of chelicerae which were stained with crimson blood, its large pincers were clicking and snapping together tauntingly as it jerk forwards with every step it took.

"_Yes, it's been quite a while since I have had any Fresh Meat come so willingly into my domain. How very kind of you all."_ It spoke in a deep voice sending shivers down their spines.

"That thing can freaking talk?!" Irma exclaimed in shock, her saucer eyes not leaving its form.

"It's an Acromantula; they are large venomous spiders from ancient times. They are carnivorous and have a preference for large prey, including humans and their own dead. Their venom is very powerful, almost as powerful as a Basilisk's venom which can cause death in a matter of seconds after it is injected into the body. They are known to be untameable and their only fear is of another creature called a Basilisk that can kill with only a look, which can be a problem for a creature with eight eyes."

"Well thank you for the documentary channel, any ideas on how to actually kill it?!"

"Well I'm working on that part!"

"_Humans, so pitiful in your hopeful chatter."_ The spider laughed, snapping his pincers mockingly at them.

"Okay, you carry on cutting Hay Lin out and I will distract that thing."

"Deal."

Irma flew up towards the Acromantula, doing loops past his eyes and dodging his pincers. She threw water at whatever chance she got, making the Acromantula more and more agitated.

"What's wrong? Don't like a widdle water?" she asked in a baby voice, flying around to the Acromantula's back half and firing more powerful jets at him.

"_You insolent brat!"_ it yelled in annoyance, jumping around to try and reach the guardian who was now flying under the spider's stomach. It slammed down one of its legs, finally pinning the girl to the floor who started to choke under the pressure.

"_I will enjoy stripping you of your flesh…"_ it growled.

"Maybe another time." she replied, clenching her fist to make a large burst of water surge forwards and into his gaping mouth, filling it with water, making the Acromantula splutter and back away. Irma started to fly around its body again, shooting more water whenever she could.

"_Enough!"_ it yelled in outrage, crouching down to aim its rear over its head and in Irma's direction. He shot a long length of web at her form, catching her by surprise. Before she could even react the Acromantula span her around like a lasso and released the web, sending her slamming into a wall. She fell down once she had hit the wall and quickly collapsed to the floor, her head spinning slightly with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Oh I do like pigeons…" she muttered to herself before slumping back to the damp ground.

"Irma!" Caleb yelled, watching as the gigantic spider advanced towards her, he turned back to Hay Lin who he had managed to partially cut from the web, "you're gonna have to do the rest yourself, good luck." He handed her his belt dagger and then walked towards the best, unsheathing his sword and swinging it in preparation in his hand.

The spider turned to look at him as he let out a battle cry, bringing the sword down on the Acromantula's leg with strength he didn't know he possessed, fuelled with the anger at seeing his friend hurt. The spider cried out in surprise at the attack, letting loose a high pitched screech of pain when the sword cut him deeper than expected. Caleb grit his teeth together at the sound, screwing his eyes shut as it went in shocks around his body and gripping the sword handle tighter.

He looked up as the Acromantula turned his colossal head to stare at him in anger, its head snapping forwards to catch him; Caleb raised his arm in reflex and let out a scream of pain when one of the Acromantula's chelicerae pierced his arm and picked him up by it, he forced back the vomit in his throat when he looked and saw that the chelicerae had actually ripped through his skin and that was all he was hanging on by.

"_I don't think I will inject you with my venom, which is a quick death for those who are worthy enough a fighter to not sneak up on me. I think I shall rip you apart instead."_

"Not today!" Caleb yelled, placing his feet onto the spiders face and kicking off with a mighty scream from both of them as Caleb rolled away from the spider, clutching his arm tightly to his side as it hung limply from his shoulder.

The spider growled yet again and advanced forwards on Caleb who had started to try and crawl away from the monster. He felt one of the rough feet of the Acromantula on his back as he was forcibly rolled over; staring back at him was the spider that seemed to be doing its version of grinning.

"_Any last words?"_ it asked mockingly, opening its venom filled mouth allowing Caleb to see its black mouth witch smelled of rotten flesh and the distinct smell of blood.

Caleb looked to his left and saw Irma's crumpled form, muttering incoherently to herself. He looked to his right and saw Hay Lin frantically cutting with the small dagger. He knew he had no hope of survival, he knew he had failed to save her.

"And give you the satisfaction? Never."

The beast laughed for a moment, _"If that is your wish."_

It then lunged forwards to Caleb's trapped and bleeding form.

_I love you Will… _He thought, upset he hadn't actually been able to tell her to her face.

He expected pain, the sound of his flesh being devoured, what he didn't expect, was the sound of a dagger dropping.

"NO!" Hay Lin yelled, the Acromantula froze and looked at her in confusion.

The air around Hay Lin started to circle her, throwing her hair around her head, making the girl look different. Look dangerous.

She threw her head back, making the air fly out in a powerful shockwave and into the gigantic beast, sending it flying across the room. She started to swipe her hands around in front of her, sending more shockwaves to the spider, lifting it and slamming it many times onto the wall behind it.

"I," she slammed it again, "Hate," and again, "Spiders!" and with one final swipe made the rubble collapse in and on top of the Acromantula, making it let out high pitched squeals as its body was crushed under the weight until finally all movement stopped.

Hay Lin was still in her position by the destroyed web, breathing deeply and glaring hatefully at the pile of rocks.

"Hay Lin?" Caleb asked quietly, watching as her eyes snapped towards him and start to soften into worry.

"Oh my God, Caleb! Are you okay?" she asked, crouching down besides him with her hands hovering over his body, not knowing where she could touch him.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me Caleb, I saw it bite you!"

"Well I wasn't infected by any of its venom so I will be fine, go check on Tipsy over there." He gestured to Irma who was still swaying on the spot.

"Turtles have wings?!" she then said with a dazed smile.

"Not much has changed then." Hay Lin laughed, Caleb chuckling with her and opening his mouth to reply-

"_You… cannot defeat me… I am too strong… to be beaten by a mere… mortal!"_

Their heads snapped over to the pile of rocks that had started to tremor, watching to their horror as it moved upwards with the body that was underneath it.

"_I am stronger than you! I am better than you! I cannot so easily be defeated! I am-"_

He was cut off when all the rocks suddenly rose off of him and with even more force behind them, crushing him again under their weight before raising to do the same thing a few more times until finally the spider move no more.

"Very dull, repetitive and just freaky, plain freaky."

"Oh Corny! Thank God you showed up!" Hay Lin yelled, flying over to the blonde who caught the younger girl who clung onto her like a life line, the past events finally catching up to her.

"Shh, its okay Hay Lin, the big bug is dead…"

"Technically it's an arachnid."

Cornelia glared over the other girl's shoulder at Caleb, "And who asked you?"

"No one… I'll just stop talking…" he trailed off, wrapping a torn piece of his shirt around his arm wound, flinching every so often.

"What have you done now silly boy?" she asked, shaking her head and moving to sit besides him, removing the shirt he wrapped around his wound, grimacing slightly at it. The placed her two hands on the wound, on both sides, and closed her eyes to concentrate. Her hands glimmered with a green glow as she used her powers on Caleb's arm, willing it to heal. After a few minutes she removed her hands, her power leaving only the left over blood and a faint scar on Caleb's arm.

"Thanks Corny."

"You're welcome, and don't call me Corny." she replied.

"Ducks go oink, oink!"

"Erm, guys? Shouldn't we help Irma?" Hay Lin asked, glancing nervously at her delusional friend.

"Do we have to? She seems smarter this way."

"Corny!"

"Fine, fine!"

"Oh look a rainbow hippo!"

"This may take longer than expected…"

~Ax~

Taranee had to catch herself as she finally reached the end of the tunnel, flying up and away from the bloody floor below her. She looked around the room she was in and was shocked when she saw bars and bloodied cells.

"Where am I…?" she asked, unknowingly out loud.

"Your in the dungeons Lass." A deep voice said from beside her, she yelled and span around, aiming a fire ball at the sound of the voice.

"Calm yourself Lass, I'm just tryna help ya out." He said. Taranee looked the creature over, he was quite bulky but looked thin at the same time, he had obviously been there for a while.

"Guardian of Candraca' ey? If you're lookin' for yeh guardian friend, she's down the corridor. Poor gal, done nothin' but scream since she got here." He shook his head remorsefully and moved to the back of the cell he was in.

Taranee thanked him quietly and carried on walking, taking in the sight of the disfigured prisoners chained to the walls and cringing at their moaning and begging fro death.

"_Poor gal, done nothin' but scream since she got here."_

_Are we already too late?_ She asked herself, quickly moving away from a cage that had a rotting corpse hanging by its shackles on the walls.

As she came to the last cell her heart sped up in her chest, quickly plummeting into her stomach when she saw what was inside. Her eyes welled up with tears and she brought her hand un to her mouth to quieten her sobbing.

The person in the room looked horrible; their hands were covered in blood, as were their ankles that she could see through her torn jeans. The other metal shackle around her waist had torn her shirt from when they had been struggling, tearing the flesh making blood leak through. Their was a very noticeable slash on their forearm with crusted blood around it and finally a small trail of the red substance leaking from her mouth. It was after this assertion that she recognised the person chained in the wooden chair.

"Will…"

**A/N: Virtual cookie to whoever figures out where I got the Acromantula idea from ;)**

**Thank you for reading! :D**


	7. Half Truths

**A/N: This was a difficult chapter to write but I did the best I could :S**

**And to those that figured it out, it was Aragog from Harry Potter, I'm a bit of a Potterhead ;) heres the virtual cookie for you guys! *throws cookie* try to catch it ;P**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Seven: Half Truths

_Guys?_ She thought, glancing tearfully at the motionless girl before her.

_Taranee? Oh thank God you're okay!_

_I'm fine Corny, how is everyone else?_

_Well Irma got hurt by this big spider thing but Corny is working on her now._

_Wait, what spider Hay Lin?_

_Tell you later._

_Fine, anyway I need your help guys._

_Why? What's happened?_

… _I've found Will._

Silence filled Taranee's head as her friends froze in shock; surprisingly it was Irma who snapped them out of it.

_Where are you Taranee?_

_I'm not sure; I think I'm in the dungeon area._

_Caleb said he knows where to go, we will meet you there in five. He also said to not touch anything, wait for us okay?_

_Sure, hurry up._

Taranee stared silently at Will, still not able to believe it was the same girl she had met on her second day of school. She looked so different, she looked… small, small scared and hurt.

_Maybe I should try talking to her? Get her to wake up…_ Taranee thought, realising that the whole time she had been there Will hadn't moved, the only amount of movement she could see was her chest rising and falling slightly.

"Will? Will can you hear me? Can you wake up, Will?" she called her name for what seemed like a thousand times, whimpering when she showed no sign of moving.

"I could always try telepathy…" she said aloud to herself, sniffing before opening the link she had with the other guardians, not caring that they could now hear her every thought.

_Will? Will please wake up, I need you to move at least a little. Please Will, please, please, please wake up!_ Taranee choked on her sobs when the girl didn't even stir, staying slumped in the wooden seat.

_Taranee, we are nearly there now, are you okay?_ Cornelia asked, worry etched in her thoughts.

_Yeah I'm fine, just hurry._

She wiped her eyes and stood up straight, setting her shoulders determinedly and closing her eyes.

_Will? Will, I know you can hear me. Will if you can hear me then talk to me, tell me what you are thinking…_ Taranee repeated those words in her head over and over, trying to break through the unconscious barrier that had somehow formed around Will's mind.

…_Will I know you can-_ Taranee gasped and stumbled backwards, her back hitting the wall behind her as she clenched her head tightly when she felt something push her out of her friend's head, something strong and powerful.

_Taranee!_

She ignored her friend's mental shouts and continued to push back against the force protecting Will's mind, groaning at the pain it caused but did not stop her fight. Finally, after what felt like hours, she pushed through the mental barrier.

_Will? Will are you there? Please tell me you are there?_ She asked breathlessly.

_It hurts…_

_Will? Oh my God Will! Are you okay?_

…_It hurts… so, much, pain…_

_Will?_

_I want to go home… I want to go home…_

_We will take you home Will, I'm sorry we didn't come sooner._

…_I need sleep… so, tired… I want to sleep…_

_Will? Will don't go to sleep! Keep talking, please!_

But it was no use, Taranee was pushed out of Will's mind and she landed on the floor with a gasp.

"Taranee? Taranee where are you?"

"I'm over here guys!" she called back, staggering to her feet in front of Will's… cage, and resting her forehead against the bars.

"We were so worried! One minute we heard you trying to get through to Will and the next you're suddenly cut off! Never do that again!" Hay Lin shouted, her voice echoing around the room, making her wince and the other teenagers shush her.

"What happened to her?" Cornelia asked, covering her mouth with her hand as she fought off tears.

"I don't know, but what we do need to do is get her out of here, now." Taranee replied, scanning the cell for any weak spots.

"Let me," Caleb rasped, pushing through the girls and pulling out his sword, "a few times I've had to get my men out of these cells, I'm pretty good at it now."

He was facing the thick square lock mechanism and slid his sword into the gap in-between the bars over it. When the sword reached the other side of the mechanism he moved it to the left so it was diagonal, he took the handle with both of his hands and pulled. Caleb let out some grunts whilst the square box started to creak in protest until with one final clink with detached itself from the metal bars.

The girls stared in shock as he roughly kicked it to the side and pushed the door, marching into the room. They quickly snapped out of it however and followed after him into the cell.

Caleb growled when he saw the chains and manacles, his anger becoming more powerful when he saw the blood and wounds.

_I've failed you Will, I'm so sorry._

"We have to get the manacles off of her," he said out loud to the guardians.

"How? She's chained down." Irma asked, glaring at the chains.

"I don't know…" Caleb replied, grabbing onto one of the chains and pulling it lightly.

Will's head suddenly snapped back, her eyes screwing up and her hands gripping onto the chair arms as she let out a horrible scream.

"What's happening?!"

"Stop it!"

The girls shouted in anguish, watching as Will convulsed in the chair and screamed her self raw. To their relief the convulsing slowed down gradually and Will went limp and fell forwards in her chair.

"What the Hell was that?" Cornelia asked, staring with wide eyes at Will's now prone form.

"My guess it's what they used to keep her still…" Caleb quietly muttered to himself, but not quietly enough as the other girls all heard him and the tears that they had held back started to fall freely.

"We need to get her out of here," Hay Lin spoke around the lump in her throat wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"How?" Cornelia asked, still looking at the red head.

"Cornelia, can you look underground and see what it was that caused that reaction?" Taranee asked.

"Sure, I can try." The blonde replied before kneeling on the ground and placing her open palm on the floor in front of her, closing her eyes in concentration.

What she saw would look a lot like radar or a heat sensor. She saw the earth as a dark almost black, blue colour. She frowned and pushed her view further down and saw something that was a bright orange colour.

"I think I see it..." she mumbled.

"Can you try and disconnect it?"

"I can try," she replied.

Cornelia moved closer to the orange object that had smaller lines that looked like roots spreading off of it, absorbing energy from the ground. Connected to the orange sphere were five lighter blue lines, when Cornelia focused more on them she could clearly see the shape of them form into that of the chains holding down her friend.

"I've found the chains," she said aloud to the others.

"Can you disconnect them somehow?" Caleb asked eagerly, not taking his eyes off of Will.

Cornelia nodded silently and pushed her hand harder onto the ground, watching as the earth around the chains started to slowly shift until all the chains were firmly together, crushed in between the ground and with one final push of Cornelia's hand sliced them in half.

"It's done, I think," she said to the rest of the room. She opened her eyes and looked at Will who sat even more limply in her seat, being held up by Caleb as the chains released her from their grip.

"Can one of you shorten these chains? It would make getting out of here easier." Caleb asked them, Irma nodded and raised her hands in front of her, she made water swirl around them and flicked her wrists, sending the water to the chains at alarming speeds. After doing this a few times the chains were cut so there was only some left dangling.

"Alright, now how are we getting out? You know we can't teleport out of Phobos' castle." Cornelia asked.

"I say we get outside and fly away, simple as." Irma replied.

"Then lets do it," Caleb said, picking Will up once again in bridal style, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

~Ax~

They had managed to get quite far without any disturbance, the trouble started when they were walking down a corridor not to far from the exit.

"What do you _mean_ she's not in there?"

"Oh great, just what we need, crazy stalker dude…" Irma whispered from the front of the line, they all pinned themselves against the wall and listened to the convocation around the corner between a very angry Damien and a very scared guard.

"I-I'm sorry my lord! But they escaped us before we could do anything." The guard stuttered out, shuffling his feet as the shorter man glared hatefully at him.

"Excuses, excuses, excuses. That does not give me an answer as to _why_ you have not found them and punished them severely for taking my love!" Damien replied, his voice getting louder with each word.

"I cannot apologise enough for our failings my lord! I promise we will find them!"

"Oh, but how can I trust you now? I left the safety and protection of my beloved in your grubby oversized hands, and yet you _still_ somehow have lost her!"

The guard took another step back and bowed his head even lower.

Will whimpered at the sounds of yelling and flinched in Caleb's grip as he tried to sooth her and keep her quiet.

"Shh Will, shh, its okay, its fine. He won't hurt you…" Caleb whispered into her ear.

"I am terribly sorry my lord, we will find the girl and bring her back to you. It will never happen again, I promise,"

"Yes, it will not ever happen again," Damien smirked, the guard looked up at him with fearful curiosity, "the dead have a tendency to not do much any how." The guard's eyes went wide.

"N-no! Please my lord! I have a family to care for! A wife, children!"

"How sweet, I will be sure to give them my condolences." Damien replied, pushing his palm forwards and latching it onto the now terrified guard's face and twisted his wrist. The head came clean off of the guard's shoulders and flew down the corridor with it's momentum, leaving the now decapitated body standing for a moment before it fell to its knees and then onto its side, black blood leaking from its neck and pooling around Damien's feet who grinned sadistically.

Irma gasped from her position looking around the corner, a bit too loud however because Damien snapped his head in her direction. Irma moved her body back against the wall and covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide as she replayed the scene over and over in her head uncontrollably.

Will then whimpered and flinched again violently, making the chains hit against each other from where they were dangling. The guardian's and Caleb's eyes all went wide as they held their breath to see if Damien had noticed the sound. They didn't have to wait long.

The wall above them exploded in a fray of rock and debris, the teenagers all screamed in shock and ran away from the wall, covering their head for protection. The space in front of them exploded also from a wave of black energy, the force pushing them all back and onto their backs on the floor.

"You give me back my love now!" he shouted, sending another wave of energy at their direction.

"Guys what are we gonna do now? We have to get past him!" Cornelia hissed, ducking as more rock fell over them.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I am sick of this stalker attacking us! I saw we fight back!" Irma grunted as a small rock hit her on the head, shaking it furiously afterwards.

"He beat us so easily last time, he's to strong." Hay Lin answered, glancing over the remains of the wall to see Damien with a grin on his face but his eyes were slits as he glared at them.

"I'm coming to get you, I will take my dear away from you fiends and we shall be eternally happy together. You however, shall find your lives to be surprisingly cut short!"

"Alright I've got a plan, stick to what I tell you guys okay?" they nodded at Taranee who turned to Hay Lin, "here's what I want you to do…"

~Ax~

Damien growled in the back of his throat. He had been standing there for a while, sending blast after blast at those insufferable guardians and that good for nothing rebel leader and they still haven't either been destroyed or come out of their little hiding place begging for mercy.

"You cannot hide for the rest of your lives, you will soon have to come out." He called to them.

There was a breeze from his left but he passed it off as some idiot guard leaving the door open or perhaps an open window. He continued to stare at the spot waiting for something to happen; somehow he was shocked when it finally did.

From directly behind him there was a very powerful gust of gale force wind, he grunted as it threw him in the air, making him twist and spin before he smashed into the wall with a resounding crack, leaving an indent of his body in the wall. He looked up to see the air guardian standing by where he was stood a moment ago with a cocky grin. Damien moved to stand up when vines suddenly shot out of the wall, wrapping themselves multiple times around his waist, wrists and ankles and pulling him back forcibly. A sharp jagged pointed rock burst forth for the ground beneath his feet and stopped just before it touched his body, pinning him down with their deadly intent.

"Now that's how you trap someone," Irma announced smugly from where she was with the others next to Hay Lin, smirking at his trapped form.

"You insolent wretches! You will all pay dearly for this! I promise you that!"

"Okay, someone needs to cool off, Hay Lin?" Irma asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why after you," she replied, bowing down slightly.

"It would be my pleasure," Irma shot both hands forwards and towards the prone form of Damien, watching him splutter as the water continuously covered his body. Then Hay Lin joined in by sending her own powerful gust of wind to join the water, when both of the girls stopped their power a little while later they saw that they had turned the angry and glaring Damien, into an angry glaring ice pop Damien.

"Good, now lets get out of here," Caleb told them, turning sharply on his heel and marching towards the front doors to the castle with the girls swiftly following after him.

None of them saw when Damien's horrified expression under the ice turned into a huge knowing smirk, staring after them with amusement shining in his eyes.

~Ax~

Caleb kicked the hidden door to the rebel hideout, waiting for the look out to peek out through the hole.

"What's the password?" he asked in a nasal voice.

"Precious gems," Caleb replied, ignoring the other girl's confused glances.

"Betta gets yous inside then righ'?" the look out replied, closing the small flap in the wall, a clunking sound was heard as the boulder rolled to the side.

People stopped in the hallways and moved to the side quickly when they saw the strange sight of their rebel leader along with four of the five guardians in guardian form and one who was not, running down the corridor to the infirmary.

Caleb placed Will on the table in the middle of the room and looked to Cornelia expectantly who was already looking at the wound on Will's other forearm. It had started to bleed whilst they were flying, along with the one around her stomach.

"I can deal with these ones," she said to the others in the room, placing her hands over the bleeding cut on the older girl's arm.

"Lets try to get these chains off; I'm not sure what to do about the manacles..." Hay Lin said to the others.

"Well she can't go back completely fine can she?" Taranee stated, the others all snapped their heads up to her, apart form Cornelia, flabbergasted at her words.

"Why the hell not? We should be able to heal her if we can."

"Think about it Irma, Will was taken captive for about a week. It will look suspicious to the authorities if we turn up with her and she has no noticeable wounds."

"I guess you're right…"

"So what do we do?" asked Hay Lin nervously glancing at the slightly struggling red head.

"Well I think we should take her to the Oracle-"

"No!" Will suddenly shouted, jumping up from the table and falling to the floor.

"Will! Calm down!" Taranee said in a slightly panicked voice, trying to calm down her friend and her racing heart.

"N-no! I don't want to g-go there. I ju-just want to go ho-ome…" she finished in a raspy whisper, sliding down the wall and collapsing onto the floor, grabbing at her head and clawing at it with her nails as she ducked down, putting her head in between her knees.

"Its okay Will, we won't go there if you don't want to…" Caleb said quietly to her, slowly kneeling down next to her with his hands down at his sides in an unthreatening manner, knowing all to well that Will could be in a bad mental state at that moment in time. She watched him approach wearily, her body tensing when he got to close and glaring at him.

"No, the Oracle said we had to go back when we found her!" Taranee argued.

"I don't want to go there!" Will shouted, wiping her mouth as more blood fell over her lips.

"Fine, we won't go there until you are ready, okay?" Caleb told her softly, hesitantly reaching out a hand, brushing a strand of her dirty red hair out of her eyes when she showed no bad signs of him being so close.

"But Caleb-"

"No Taranee, right now I don't care what the Oracle says, I'm more concerned about my friend and what she wants. If she doesn't want to see the Oracle, then we won't see the Oracle, and that's final." He said in a voice that meant there was no point in arguing, she looked at the other girls who all had the same look in their eyes, and she sighed and backed down.

"Will, could you let me heal that wound on your stomach? It's bleeding quite a bit…" Cornelia asked quietly, watching with rapt attention as the red head seemed to study her eyes for a moment until slowly nodding her head.

Cornelia walked forwards and slowly lifted Will's torn shirt, having gotten Irma to remove the metal encasing her on the way over, wincing when she saw that her stomach was rubbed a bright red raw and cut in a line around the skin.

"This might be a little uncomfortable," she said warningly before placing her soft hands onto the other girl's mid section, slowly working her way around the skin and cringing whenever the other girl let out a whimper when she pushed to hard or reached a sensitive area.

"Almost done…" she whispered, removing her hands a moment later and listening as the girl sighed in relief. Cornelia was quite proud of her work, the only resemblance of the previous bloody wound was a thin line that was a shade lighter than her slightly tanned skin, making it almost unnoticeable.

"Okay, so now we take her back to Earth… how do we tell everyone how we found her?" she asked the others.

"Well, we will figure that out later." Hay Lin replied. They all shared slightly nervous smiles and took out their small gems, Cornelia grabbing Caleb who held Will tighter to him. In a flash of bright light they left the room empty.

~Ax~

Will was finally back home in the safety of her bed. She was discharged from the hospital after a few hours for the doctors to call someone to remove the manacles and bandage the wounds on her wrists and ankles. When she was in the hospital her and her friends were questioned about what happened. Her friends had been able to barely convince the detectives about how they found Will, and that was with Irma helping to persuade them. Will had told them she had no memory of her time in captivity and they believed her after the doctor told them in a not so hushed voice it was common in these situations for trauma patients to block out the horrible memories.

So then the police escorted her and her mother back to their apartment and decided to stay and ask a few more questions and do a quick search around the flat for safety measures. They left a few more hours later, wishing them both a good night.

Now Will was in her bed with her mother hugging her furiously, her frame wracked with her sobs as she hugged her daughter.

"I-I'm so sorry W-Will, I am s-so sorry that I couldn't-"

"Its fine Mom, its over now." Will whispered back to her hugging her just as tight.

"But it shouldn't have happened in the first place! I failed you as a Mother!" she wailed.

"No you didn't Mom, I wasn't here and you had no way in knowing what was going to happen."

"No, but it won't happen again," her mom replied, leaning back to stare Will in the eyes with her own red rimmed ones, "the police will find this sick bastard Will, we will find him and he will be put to justice for what he did to you."

Will gave her mom a tight smile and nodded.

"Well, its time to go to bed honey, its been a long night for you," Susan kissed Will on the forehead, watching as she lay down on her side into her bed and pulled the comforter up to her chin, "I'm so glad to have you back… goodnight my Little Red…" she kissed her forehead again and ruffled her hair lightly, standing up and walking out of the room, giving the girl one last glance before closing the door.

All was quiet in the room, the moon light shone through the curtains yet again and onto the figure on the bed.

Suddenly Will's eyes snapped open and stared at the mirror by the wall, only her eyes were not the same. Instead of the normal brown, they had changed to a dangerous violet, her whites as black as night. She stared at her reflection for a moment, she then smiled. And it wasn't a happy smile, it was a smile full of darkness and promise. Her sharp teeth poked out from between her lips as her smile grew manically.

"Watch out, watch out, I'm coming to get you…" she said in a bone chilling voice.

**A/N: Thank you all for reading! :D**


	8. Misguided Arguments

**A/N: Sorry for the longer than usual wait but my life has been crazy these past few days, first my cousin's girlfriend gave brith to a lovely little girl :D but then I had to go back to school and I have been revising for my French Oral exam, not good :( I will try and update quicker but I can't promise much, I'm doing my GCSE's this year so I need to study more often but I WILL try to update, Promise ;) xx**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Eight: Misguided Arguments

She waited until she heard her mother settle down in her bed before quietly creeping out of her own and walking towards her cupboard. She pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans, a black wife beater and hoodie along with some black chucks and a black beanie. She quickly pulled on her clothes and tip toed towards the window, catching her reflection and seeing her violet eyes smirking back at her. She lifted the window and slowly climbed out, wincing when she placed her foot on the fire escape, making it screech in protest. When she heard no movement inside the apartment she quickly climbed out onto the window ledge and slid it back down, mindful to keep it open enough to re open it later.

It had been a whole week she had been back on the foul planet they called Earth, and she spent most of that time under the watchful eyes of her 'friends', her mother would often walk randomly into her room to check if she was okay, not matter how many times Will assured her that she was fine. Finally, after days of trying to sneak away, Will had finally done it.

She looked over the railing, deducing that it was not far from the ground and swiftly doing a vault over the flimsy metal. She landed on the wet floor in a silent crouch, glancing around her self for any witnesses before standing to her full height and yanking her hood over her head. Will shoved her hands into her pockets and trudged down the dark street, her head ducked to cover her face from the rain falling around her.

As she walked Will thought about what had happened when she got back from Meridian, the police were annoying, always asking questions to her friends who had managed to miraculously fumble their way around their suspicion. Then there was school, the teachers were all walking on egg shells around her, something Will found quite amusing. She hardly got any work and the staff was quite happy with her simply staring into space during class, something about post traumatic stress or whatever, if it kept them away from her then she was fine with it. The students more or less kept to themselves, apart from some preppy girls who kept annoying the Hell out of her. Sometimes she wishes that she could break her cover and just burn them all but somehow she can restrain her self, barely.

And that's another thing; remarkably her cover hasn't been blown by her friends. It confused Will at first; they were all connected were they not? Shouldn't they be able to feel the difference in her feelings or emotions?

_Well one of them certainly has_

She thought with a smirk, the fire guardian was quite perspective. She kept giving Will very suspicious glances and she wondered how long it would be until she snapped under her confusion.

Will hadn't made it easy for them to figure out her difference however, she did her act of the scared girl putting on a brave face and her mental block was almost always up, claiming she didn't want them to experience what she went through for fear of scarring them. Utter bull. She couldn't care less what happened to them, they didn't have much long left to care anyways.

But then there was _him_. That strange boy from a different world, Caleb, she thinks he's called. He didn't pressure her into talking, didn't question when she would 'spaced out' as they called it, and most oddly, whenever he smiled at her, touched her, Hell when he even looked at her! She felt… something.

She hasn't felt anything since she gave in apart from malice, hatred and darkness. It wasn't her that felt it necessarily, but her mind. In the back of her mind where that guardian was locked away, not able to do anything but sleep. She felt something she couldn't describe come from that part of her mind, something warm and… uncomfortable. She didn't like it, she didn't like what he made her feel, didn't like the way it made her feel vulnerable. So, she didn't like him. At all.

Will shook her head and glanced around at her surroundings. She was at the edge of town at an old abandoned train station; the rain fell down hard, filling up the mud and making large puddles form on almost every surface. The place had an odd feeling about it, made her feel depressed as she watched the rain drops slide down the sodden walls of the dilapidated building. She felt lonely and lost in this quiet that was only broken by the pitter patter on the ground. In some strange way, she loved it.

Will tilted her head back and closed her eyes in content as the water cascaded down her face, she even allowed herself to smile.

"You could put even Aphrodite to shame my Dear."

"And you could have Ares cowering beneath you my Lord." Will smirked as she turned around, spotting Damien's pale face in the darkness of the train tunnel a few feet away from her.

"Now Will, you must only call me that when we are in the company of others, such chivalry is not needed at this present time." Damien chided her gently, gesturing her over to him. When Will was in front of him, now under the tunnels shelter from the rainy onslaught, she dropped to one knee and bowed her head respectfully.

"I have missed you," she said, keeping her head bowed to him, she would admit she felt a little shocked when he reached under her chin and pulled her face up to see him crouching at eye level with her, smiling at her lovingly.

"And I you my love," he leant forwards to kiss her forehead gently before reaching down to clasp their hands together and pulling her to her feet, "but first we must discuss the reason we have met up here tonight." He said, traces of humour leaving his face much like it had Will's.

"Yes, what is it the Master has requested of me?"

"He wants you to do something very important Will, he needs you to do what many have failed to do in the past." He told her, some spark forming in his eyes as he looked into her lighter violet ones.

"And what is that?" she was answered by Damien's chuckle as he stepped back from her and leant against the wall behind him.

"He wants you too, how should I say? Break the guardian's charm."

Will rose her eyebrow sceptically.

"You want me to break the Heart of Candracar? Isn't that a bit too noticeable?"

Damien chuckled again, "No, no, I do not wish for you to destroy such a precious gem such as that. That's a second thing my Master has asked of you, keep that jewel on you person at all times, even when you sleep."

"I can do that, but what do you mean, 'break the guardian's charm'?" she asked.

"Well, how do the guardians exist? What is the source of their power? How they can over come such evil that they face and still come out on top?" Damien lent in closer to the red head's confused face, smiling at her as he did, "Their untidiness, that's how. That's how you transformed them in the past, how they got their powers. For the Heart to work properly, to get their powers to their highest capacity, they must be united. Do you understand what you must do Will?"

Will nodded her head with a small frown.

"You want me to shatter their friendship, to tip the scales and use what would normally make them more powerful become their downfall."

Damien nodded, his eyes swimming with pride.

"Yes, but remember that they must remain ignorant that you are causing this. You must be subtle, lie low."

"Damien? What did you mean before? Why do I need to protect the Heart, why is Master so insistent of this?" she asked, tilting her head in thought, watching as Damien seemed to freeze up and struggle with his words until he finally managed to open his mouth and tell her.

"That, is something I cannot tell you Will," he said regretfully, ducking his head in shame.

"You, you don't trust me?" Will asked shakily, not sure why she should feel upset but going with it all the same. Damien's head snapped up and he looked at her with an almost glare.

"No. No, I trust you with my life. Its Master who told me I cannot tell you, I cannot disobey him," he pulled her head up to meet his gaze again, fighting away the primal feeling inside of him to prove her how much he cared for her, "but I promise you this, it will not be long until you are told of our Master's plans. He hasn't even revealed the whole plan to me yet, but you will find out soon, I swear on it." He told her with so much passion behind his words that Will couldn't help up believe him. She leant forwards along with him and their lips met in a gentle kiss that held enough meaning behind it to show the truth he had.

Will pulled back quickly when she felt something strange at the back of her head, almost as if she had been pulled away, and for a second, she could have sworn she heard a sound of disgust.

"I must go my love, next time we meet I hope we can stay together longer than this." Damien told her, smiling down at her smaller form. Will placed her hand on his cheek, watching as his much paler one went over it and linked their fingers together, leaning into her touch.

"You're so warm…" he mumbled, turning to her palm and placing a small kiss on its soft pads, "I miss feeling warm." He whispered wistfully to himself, a far away look forming in his eyes. Will leant forwards and placed a chaste kiss on his cool lips.

"You don't have to with me here Damien." She smiled at him; he smiled back at her and turned her hand over to kiss the back of it, bowing down afterwards jokingly.

"I must bid you a due my fair lady, it has been oh such a pleasure to be with you this evening." He told her in an overly posh voice, even for him, Will smiled at his rare show of childishness.

"The pleasure has been all mine good sir." She replied with a curtsy.

Damien laughed lightly, kissing the back of her hand one more time before stepping back and fading into the shadows much as he had done before, when she was weak.

Now Damien was gone, all her dark feelings came crashing back down on her like a speeding train. She felt a little overwhelmed and turned back for the trek back to her apartment, deciding to jog the way back considering the sun was starting to rise up on the horizon. As she jogged she thought back on her mission.

_My Master wants me to destroy the guardians without being caught._

She thought to herself, jumping up at an incredible height and latching onto the fire escape and climbing up it with incredible speeds.

_Then I say, bring it on._

Will grinned at her thoughts, silently opening her bedroom window and slipping back inside her room. She took off her sodden clothes and chucked them into the wash basket in the corner of her room and pulling on her pyjamas. She got settled under the covers and dragged them over her head, quickly falling into a dreamless sleep.

~Ax~

Will tried to conceal her dark smirk, she really did, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore as the day went on. She had thought on her way to the mental institution they call school about how she was going to go about tricking all the guardians, it was going easier than expected.

She decided to focus on the guardian who had been annoying her ever since she was brought back to Earth, the fire guardian.

Will went through with her plan and it all went very well, first things first, she got the guardian agitated.

She saw Taranee walking down the corridor, her nose buried in some random book from the library, so Will hid around the corner and made sure that the other mindless people around her were focusing else where. She focused on the fire guardian's shadow, smirking and flexing her fingers. Will watched as the shadow subtly rose up and to Taranee's shoe laces, wrapping around them and pulling them apart, quickly joining them together in a loose knot. She watched in satisfaction as soon as the shadows let go and faded away Taranee tripped upwards, throwing her book up and sending her crashing her to the ground, she stifled her laughter when the heavy book fell back down and landed down on her back, making the fire guardian groan in pain. She waited a few seconds whilst the other students all laughed at the other girl's expense, watching as her cheeks flared up in embarrassment and allowing her to feel that way before putting up her concerned friend façade and jogging over to the fallen girl.

"Taranee are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Will, just embarrassed beyond belief." She muttered.

"Hey Taranee! Did you have a nice trip?" a random jock shouted causing more laughter and embarrassment. Will turned to glare at him.

"Hey dipshit, how about I send my foot on a trip up your ass?" she snarled at him, the jock muttered under his breath before swaggering down the corridor with his lackeys following behind.

"Thanks Will," Taranee smiled up at the red head, accepting her out stretched hand.

"What are best friends for huh?" she asked with a wink.

"And you most certainly are the bestest best friend a girl could have," Taranee fluttered her eye lashes, Will laughed.

Internally she vomited a little in her throat.

~Ax~

They had walked to science class together in silence. When they finally got into the room the teacher seemed to be in a bad mood.

_I could use this to my advantage…_

Will thought, remembering some of what Damien had told her about her new powers in a dream he had visited her in, one of which she was going to use now, empathy. She focused on the older man's head, pouring negative thoughts and feelings for a certain girl in the room. As if on que, the man looked up in annoyance when Taranee put her book onto the floor, making it slam lightly on the floor.

"Is there a reason for you to disrupt my class Miss Cook?" he snapped.

"W- wha-?" Taranee looked like a deer in headlights, freezing all movement as the whole class turned in their seats to look at her.

"Well is there?"

"…is there what Sir?" she asked him timidly, jumping when he slammed his hands down on her work station.

"Pay attention in my class girl or I will send you out of it! Am I clear?" he glared.

"Y-y-yes Sir, crystal." She stuttered.

"Good, if I hear another peep out of you then it's an hour long detention after school for the rest of the week, now set up your station."

Will looked at Taranee 'sympathetically', knowing that she may have over done it with the dark feelings.

"You okay Tara?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'm just having a bad day is all." Taranee tried to smile convincingly back at her, failing miserably. Will smiled back at her and moved to collect the equipment for the science practical on the white board.

She waited throughout the brain killing class, waiting for the perfect moment to push Taranee just a little bit more. There was fifteen minutes left to the class that it finally happened.

Taranee was leant in close to the Bunsen burner, holding her flask up and watching the reaction it caused, Will sent a little negative energy to the person sitting at the station next to her.

"God, she's such a little know it all nerd…" he muttered to himself, glaring at Taranee who had frozen in shock and turned to the usually quiet boy who she got along quite well with. whilst she was distracted Will focused on the flame in the Bunsen burner, watching in satisfaction as it suddenly grew in size.

"Taranee Cook are you trying to get us all killed?!" the teacher yelled in anger as the flame somehow reached the ceiling and spread across it, reaching the tatty curtains and making them catch alight. By now the whole class was in panic, people running around in every direction, the teacher just staring at the fire with a little fear. The flames had spread to the chemical cabinet and that seemed to snap the teacher out of his thoughts.

"Someone grab the fire extinguisher!" he yelled to the irresponsive class, thankfully a boy had heard and grabbed the fire extinguisher, aiming it at the flames and quickly putting them out.

It was all quiet as the students started to calm down, the fire bell ringing shrilly in the background.

"Everyone outside. Taranee Cook, Headmistresses office." The teacher told her with a hated glare at the quivering girl.

Taranee gulped.

~Ax~

"So it all just blew up?" Irma asked as she leant against the window frame in Hay Lin's bedroom.

"Well sorta, I don't really know what happened…" Taranee muttered, her head buried in her hands.

"Maybe you got distracted by that boy talking bad about you, and in your surprise let the flame… jump a little?" Cornelia supplied from where she was on the bed next to Will who sat crossed legged.

"It did more than just jump Corny," Irma scoffed, "it set off the freaking fire alarm and made us leave school early," she cast a sly glance to Taranee, "not that I mind or anything."

"Irma this is not a joke! I lost control of my powers, that hasn't happened since I first became a guardian. I have to be honest here, I'm scared! What if I loose control again but actually hurt someone?" Taranee shouted hysterically, the other girls noticed how the room had heated up at the other girl's anger.

"Taranee, don't take it out on Irma, she's just as confused as we all are." Will said with fake concern.

"Oh don't you start Will! Don't think I haven't noticed how different you've been behaving since you got back from that freak Damien!"

"Taranee leave Will alone! She has been going trough a lot and she doesn't need her friend making accusations at her!" Hay Lin yelled back, her eyes wide with shock at her normally docile friend.

Taranee winced, "You're right, sorry Will, I'm just super stressed right now."

"Its fine Tara, I know."

Will mentally groaned when the topic of convocation turned lighter, these girls were making it harder and harder for her.

~Ax~

The school had been cancelled for the week due to the fire department stating it would be unsafe for them to go into a school which needed repairs, so the five girls found themselves in the local park, Caleb was unfortunately unable to join them as he had to work an extra shift at the restaurant.

"So what're we gonna do this weekend?" Hay Lin asked, hanging onto a tree branch upside down by her legs.

"I dunno maybe we could go see a movie or something?"

"Gee, a movie, how original of you Corny."

"Well I don't see you throwing any ideas out there Irma." Cornelia sneered.

"Yeah, you don't see me throwing money around either," she ignored Cornelia's eye roll and looked at the other girls, "cant we do something expenses free this weekend? I'm completely broke."

"Aw, listen to her girls, poor little girl is broke, again." A high pitched voice said from behind them, it was followed by rambunctious laughter. The group of guardians all groaned.

"Do you just seek us out to insult us or something?" Will asked in irritation, she may not like the guardians, but they all had a common enemy when it came to the most annoying creatures she ever had the displeasure to meet.

"Oh look! She can talk, I thought being locked away would help teach you some manners and how to shut up, seems like I was wrong." The cheerleaders all laughed.

"What did you just say?" Cornelia growled, her fist clenching by her side. Will noticed this and had a mental grin; maybe those cheerleaders were good for something.

She focused intently on the blonde girl in front of her, making her feel angry and irritated, with a casual glance at the cheerleader; she sent her some feelings of obnoxiousness and smugness, watching in hidden satisfaction as she seemed to straighten and raise her nose to the air.

"And look, it's the fire starter. We heard you did that on purpose, something a crush said made you angry so you threw a Bunsen burner at him, tried to kill him apparently. Little freaks like you should be locked up, that's what my mother says."

"Oh really? And what else does your mother tell you? Who your real father was? What sized clothes to wear to make you look like an even bigger slut?" Cornelia was in full protective mode now, before Will had arrived in Heatherfeild she was the leader of their little group so was very protective of her friends.

"Like you can talk, we all know that your mother didn't get her job at work with her good attitude," Cornelia twitched, "she must have spent more times on her knees than behind her desk," Taranee's eyes widened when she saw the tree behind the oblivious girls start to move towards them, forming a claw like hand as it slowly crept towards them, "and I doubt she satisfies your father anymore, you probably have loads of other little brothers and sisters you don't know about in Heatherfeild," the plant moved closer and closer, "your sister will probably be just like them both, I wouldn't be surprised if she did, you however, you will always be a big fat bitch."

_Cornelia!_

Cornelia had managed to stop the plant clawing at the girl's repulsive skull, but she did nothing to stop her fist flying forwards and connecting with the girl's jaw. After the cheerleader reacted by holding onto her jaw dramatically, the now longer tree branch snapped under its new weight, landing in between the preppy girls and scaring the living daylights out of them all. With ear splitting screams of panic and the words 'freak' and 'witch', they ran off down the path and around the corner.

"…Cornelia?" Hay Lin asked timidly, slowly climbing down from her tree. The girl in question breathed deeply for a few moments before turning to the others.

"That felt good." She sighed, now smiling widely as did the other girls.

~Ax~

_2 days later…_

Irma stood there, her mouth wide as she stared at the girl in front of her. She couldn't believe it, her friend, one of her best friends, had betrayed her.

"How- how could you?" she whispered in horror.

"Sorry Irma, but it was the only way-"

"The only way?! What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Look, I just don't think that they are that good-"

"That good! They are the best band in like… forever!" she wailed, watching as Hay Lin tried to stifle her amusement.

"As you may think, but I don't like them as much as I do other bands."

"I don't think we can be friends anymore,"

"What! Come on Irma, stop being a goof." Hay Lin now laughed openly at her friend's distraught expression.

"This isn't a laughing matter Hay Lin! How could you betray my trust! I can't believe you don't like them anymore!"

"I don't not like them Irma, just not as much as before." Hay Lin told her, trying to stop her yells before Irma's Dad came up to tell them to be quiet.

"I can't let this go Hay Lin, I just can't!" she yelled slamming her hand down on the desk she sat by.

A crack of thunder made both the girls jump up with a yelp; they turned to the window and watched as rain started to fall heavily outside, the blue sky turning to a dark grey colour, and watching as Irma's Mom ran outside to collect all the clothes that were drying outside.

"Did you do that?" Hay Lin asked in awe, still staring out at the previously sunny day that had now turned into a full on rain storm.

"I- I don't think so, I wasn't really angry or anything…" replied Irma as she looked down at her hands in confusion.

"That's you, Corny and Tara now, maybe Candracar is testing us?"

"Yeah… maybe…" Irma replied, looking uneasily out of her window at the now ferocious storm.

~Ax~

_4 days later…_

"Will! It's for you!" Will groaned and grudgingly got up from her bed and trudged down to the front door where her mom was staring at her with a mega watt smile.

"Who is it?"

"It's that nice boy that you always talk about," she told her, leaning in to her ear, "_and he's got flowers_!" she whispered with a small excited giggle.

_Oh great, lover boy is at it again._

"Thanks mom… see you then." She said, raising her eyebrow when the woman just stood there until she snapped out of her phase and jogged around the corner doing a small happy dance. Will opened the door.

Caleb was stood there with a bunch of red roses in his hand and a nervous smile across his lips, for a second Will felt something flutter in the back of her mind, but she quickly pushed it aside.

"Erm, what are you doing here Caleb?" she asked him, leaning against the door frame and crossing her arms.

"Well, it's Wednesday." He said with a light blush.

Will rose her eyebrow, "What are you a calendar now? I know what the date is genius. Is that what you came here for? To tell me its Wednesday?"

"Wha…? No Will, its _Wednesday_? You know, we said we could go out to the park or something together, remember?" he asked, deflating slightly.

Will was shocked.

_When did I do that? Is this kid delusional or something I haven't spoken to him since… oh yeah, now I remember. I wasn't really paying attention to be honest…_

"Oh yeah, sorry I totally forgot about that." She said with a smile.

"W-what? Don't you wanna go out tonight then?"

She bit her lip and tried to look scared, "I don't know Caleb, I'm just not ready to do that sort of thing, you know? I'm still a little… shook up."

"W-well, do you want to go another time?" his hand slowly dropped down as he looked at her pleadingly.

"No Caleb. I don't want to. I'm sorry, but I don't." Will told him, perhaps a little harsher then necessary considering his shoulders slumped and he looked defeated.

"But, I thought you-?"

"Really sorry Caleb but I've got to go, I have… lots of school work to do."

"W-wait!"

"Bye Caleb!" she shut the door and locked it for good measure, listening as he quietly walked down the corridor. She sighed in relief and walked back to her bedroom.

"What did he want Hun?" her mom asked with a furrowed brow.

"Oh, he just wanted to know if the flowers smelt nice." She replied with a shrug, walking into her bedroom and closing the door.

She failed to see Susan's frown deepen.

~Ax~

She just had to get out of the house, her mother had been glaring at her since the whole fire in the school incident, and her brother and father were better but still gave her questioning glances. She needed some air to think, to think about Will and what was different about her, she couldn't put her finger on it but something had changed whilst the girl was with Phobos.

She sighed, pushing her glasses back up her nose and continued to trek up the hill in Heatherfeild Park. She had always come to this place to think when she needed space. Before she had become a guardian, this was a safe haven she had discovered whilst the delivery men were unpacking their stuff from the van. It was a small creek that had water leaking into it from some rocks that were a little higher up from the waters surface. The water was a dark, almost black colour that was calm with small ripples flowing through it from the trickling water. The water was surrounded by green trees that stood tall, hiding her small escape from prying eyes, a few trees were cast over the water, reflecting onto it. Taranee made her way over to a large rock that was perched at the highest point on the whole area, walking up the small hill with a quick pace. The rock leant over the water and Taranee liked to hang her feet over the edge when she went there to think, it helped to calm her.

There was something that Taranee didn't expect to see already sitting there however, that someone being Caleb.

"Caleb? What are you doing here?" she asked, stopping behind the rebel boy who tensed when he heard her voice. He span around and looked at her with his emerald eyes that were red rimmed with tears, Taranee gasped, Caleb never cried, never.

"Taranee? Oh, I just found this place a while ago and I come here to think sometimes…" he looked away as Taranee sat beside him, looking down at his reflection in the dark water.

"But… aren't you supposed to be on your date with Will tonight?"

Caleb tensed up, but this time out of anger.

"She didn't want to go." He bit out.

"Oh, was she too tired or wanted to go another time? Or-?"

"No Taranee, she doesn't want to go with me." He glared at his reflection.

"What? That's crazy, she's totally into you-"

Caleb interrupted her with a scoff, "Yeah, she made that clear to me when she slammed the door in my face."

"Okay now your talking crazy, Will wouldn't do that, its completely unlike her."

"Yeah well, that's what I thought."

Taranee frowned and looked at her reflection in thought.

"Did she do anything else out of the ordinary? Like-"

"No! Stop talking right now!" Caleb shouted, standing to his feet and glaring at Taranee who had now stood also, using his height as an advantage to threaten her, "Ever since Will got back, all you've done is talk bad about her behind her back, give her odd looks and just been horrible. Suggesting she's not actually _herself_. Cant you just be happy that we have her back and she's healing now? You need to understand that not every hunch you get is immediately correct. You thought that about how Will felt for me and look how that turned out!"

"Caleb, let me just explain-"

"No! I don't want to talk to you right now, I will end up doing something I will probably regret." He spat out, turning to march out of the small area, brewing in his heart broken anger.

Taranee watched him go with tears filling her eyes; she couldn't believe that had happened, she had seen Caleb snap at someone, even yell at them, but never at her.

She sighed and looked around the small lake; her peaceful area was now tarnished.

~Ax~

Whilst Will was at the hospital getting a check up, the other girls and Caleb had decided to meet up and wait for her at the Silver Dragon. They were all lounging around in the basement and just talking among themselves.

"I hope she is going to be okay now." Caleb mumbled, leant up against the wall and staring at the floor.

"Yeah me too, if so we might have to go back to the castle to kick Damien's ass." Irma said, leaning against the back of the small bed.

"In that case she had better be well, that place was really hard to bust into." Cornelia grumbled, getting a nod of agreement from Hay Lin who sat besides her on the bed.

"Was it really?"

They all looked up with curiosity and Taranee who was sat by the desk, her hands clasped together in her lap.

"Not. This. Again. Taranee." Caleb ground out, glaring at the girl in question.

"Wait up, what are you guys talking about?" Hay Lin asked.

"Nothing." Caleb snarled.

"It might be something, I'm trying to do what's best here and-"

"I said its nothing Taranee!" Caleb yelled, striding to meet Taranee in the centre of the room.

"But what if it is? I think that the whole rescue was too easy. The fact that we got past all those guards with only a few scratches, that we found her so easily, that we got out of there at all!" she looked around at the others, their expression ranging from confusion to anger, she looked back at Caleb, her glare now forming on her face, "How many times have you tried to get prisoners out of that castle and failed trying too? And how many times did they _actually_ get out?!"

She looked back at the girls in desperation.

"And just before we left, we had to fight Damien. Am I the only one to notice that we beat him so easily when he mowed through us last time we had met? I think the whole thing was too easy, like the whole thing was… planned somehow! I can't be the only one to think this!"

"No, but you are the only one to think that things can't be easy, that all can't be good now. That we have Will back and that's the end of it?" Caleb spat at her.

"Oh stop protecting her so much! If you weren't so in love with her then we all know you would be agreeing with me!"

"Taranee calm down." Hay Lin told her in a shaky voice, feeling as the temperature in the room heated up with her friend's anger.

"And why should I? You all fight with each other all the time, why can't I for once?"

"Probably because she prefers her house not burned to a crisp." Irma stood up for her best friend, standing up to meet eye to eye with Taranee.

"I bet you would be able to put it out before a spark was even lit with how dodgy your powers have been lately, I don't really feel like having a shower at the moment."

"Why? Do you only shower on your birthday? A special treat is it?" Irma snidely remarked.

"I'm not the only one who has been thinking this either, Cornelia has too."

"Corny?" Hay Lin asked with a whimper, watching as her blonde friend stood up just like all her others as she, not really one for fights amongst friends, sat still on the bed.

"Yeah, I admit, the whole thing did feel slightly simple, but I don't think anything is wrong with Will. I think she is just tiered, scared and needs our help and comfort. We need to be kind to her and help her whilst she is in this state."

Irma scoffed, "Oh yeah, and you're _really_ kind and comforting, its basically your thing, right?"

"What's your problem?!" Cornelia yelled at her, her cerulean eyes flashing with anger.

"I think that you're my problem!" Irma yelled back, the two getting dangerously close to each other.

"Girls! Girls! What has gotten into you all?" Yan Lin asked in a hurry, walking down the stairs with a frown.

"Nothing, its just Irma over there is being offensive for no apparent reason."

"Well I think your face is offensive to me, can you remove it from the area please?"

Cornelia let out a yell of anger and lunged at Irma, only to be intercepted by Yan Lin who had managed to reach them in time, holding the enraged blonde back.

"I think its time for you all to go away and calm down. Words spoken in anger are not true, now all of you, out!" with one last glare at each other, Caleb, Cornelia, Taranee and Irma stormed out of the room. Yan Lin turned to Hay Lin who was sat on the bed, hugging a pillow close to her chest with tears streaking down her face, Yan Lin sighed remorsefully and sat down next to her granddaughter, hugging her close as silent tears fell from her eyes.

"What's happening to us?" she sobbed, Yan Lin didn't answer, she merely held Hay Lin tighter.

**A/N: Thankies for reading and I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to R/R :P**


	9. Meridian

**A/N: Sorry again for the late update but like I said in my last A/N school is being a pain :S Hope this chapter makes up for it :)**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

* * *

Chapter Nine: Meridian

It had been three weeks since the guardians had their argument and it seemed that feelings had yet to be healed between the small group. Caleb had returned to Meridian, telling Hay Lin to tell the others he had some business to help with, Taranee had spent more time in the library and in her room studying than should be humanly possible, Irma had been complaining to Hay Lin who stayed quiet during her best friend's charade about a certain blonde, and said blonde just acted like she used to, talking with Elyon and spending most her time with the girl who had come back from a long family vacation and would be leaving again in a few weeks.

So now Will was bored, she had completed her mission to break apart the guardian's union and was waiting further orders, she hadn't heard hide or hair from either Damien or Master since then and she was, as previously mentioned, feeling brain numbingly bored.

So here she was, leaning with her head tilted downwards against her locker, looking just like the average hormonal teenage girl she was meant to be, instead of, you know, an evil, dark girl who doesn't care for anyone except Damien and her Master.

_Knock, knock._

Will snapped her eyes open and quickly turned to look behind her, furrowing her brow when she was face to face with the locker. She shook her head, she must have imagined it.

_No, you didn't._

Will jumped when an unexpected voice filled her head, what the Hell?

_That's right, you're not alone in here._

She shook her head and gripped it tightly, she felt like she was having a, what was it her supposed mother had complained about? Migraine? Yeah that was it, she felt like she had a migraine.

_And I'm not a migraine, I want back out. Let me out!_

"No…" Will hissed, removing one hand from her hair and slamming it onto the locker behind her.

_Yes, it isn't yours, I have this body and it belongs to me._

"No. Its mine." She snarled quietly, her fist clenching in her hair, it felt like someone was beating against a door in her head, this wasn't right, this wasn't-.

"Will?"

_Hear that? That's _My_ name, _My_ friends, this is not yours to control._

"Will, Will are you okay?"

"What's going on here?"

"Oh look who came scurrying back."

The voices sounded blurred and Will felt the banging in her head lessen as she focused more onto them and not the strange one in her head.

"Will? Are you okay? Will?"

Will looked up slowly, taking deep gasps of air, not having realised she had held her breath the whole time.

"Yeah I'm fine." She answered, looking up to find the four friends crouching down around her with concerned looks on their faces, wait, crouching? She looked around and realised that she had somehow slid down the locker and was sitting on the floor, her head resting on her knees. Will abruptly stood up, quickly followed by the others who didn't look convinced.

"Yeah right, I smell bull shit right there." Will gave the brunette a small glare.

"I said I was fine. What are you all doing here anyways?"

"Well you looked like you were hurt Will, we wanted to help our friend who was convulsing on the floor."

Will winced, looking around the thankfully empty corridor, what had just happened to her? It could have blown her cover…

"Sorry… I-I was stuck in a memory, I didn't know what was happening…" she trailed off.

_C'mon, buy it, buy it, buy it!_ She thought frantically to herself.

They all shared sympathetic glances, their anger monetarily forgotten.

"Look Will, we think-."

A strange tingling sound cut Cornelia off, followed by Will's top rising slightly.

"What the Hell is that?" she asked in panic.

"Dude chill, it's just the Heart,"

"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"You know, the Heart? It means we gotta close a portal or something." Irma supplied, watching as the other girl's eyes seemed to widen a fraction before returning to their normal size.

"Y-yeah, I knew that. I just got a little, caught up, you know?" she gave them a weak smile that seemed to throw away any thoughts of suspicion.

"Of course, we understand." Hay Lin nodded vigorously, smiling back at her.

"Then let's go right?"

"Irma, its still school time, we can't just leave half way through the day!"

"Tara, you've done plenty of revising for all of us to get to University, thanks by the way." Irma replied with a wink, tapping her temple and earning a scowl from the fire guardian.

"And seriously, I would rather stop any gross green things crawling their way through the portal again; God knows it was tricky to cover up last time that happened." Cornelia said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Fine, let's close this stinking portal."

As they stealthily walked out of the school, going to the location crossed on the map of Heatherfeild, Will felt some anger stir in her gut. All her work into getting the guardians annoyed and borderline hating each other was falling apart before her eyes. She wouldn't allow that to happen, she couldn't. Will quickly looked up, making unexpected eye contact with the fire guardian; she sent her a small smile and quickly broke the eye contact.

But Taranee froze for a second, she could've sworn that in that moment, when she locked eyes with 'Will', that her normal warm brown eyes were not that comforting colour. That for a second, the eyes were purple and black, she shook her head, the sleepiness must have been getting to her, there is no way someone's eye colour could change so fast. Impossible.

She quickly jogged to catch up with her friends, shaking all thoughts from her mind.

~Ax~

"Well this place sure isn't creepy as Hell." Cornelia deadpanned, looking over her shoulder nervously around the dark forest that was only lit by the dim blue glow of the portal in front of them.

"You're right there, Will hurry up and close this thing." Taranee told the redhead who was standing in front of the portal, looking ever so slightly clueless.

"Erm… what?" she asked, watching as their faces all turned to ones of disbelief.

_Damien is going to have to give me more info next time I'm in this sort of situation… _she mentally grumbled to herself.

"Are you for real?" Hay Lin asked, her mouth hanging open a little.

Will chose not to answer, putting on the most innocent expression she could.

"Well, you got to hold the Heart in front of the portal and it will close." Cornelia told her, blonde eyebrows rising sceptically.

"Okay then…" Will trailed off, turning around and hesitantly holding the Heart out in front of the portal.

The Heart had begun to glow a little brighter when the portal started to swirl, Will pulled the Heart protectively to her chest and stepped back.

"What's happening?"

"It means that someone is coming through the other side…" Irma smirked and got herself ready, squaring her shoulders and planting her feet. They all waited with bated breath as the swirling became stronger and stronger until a figure could clearly be seen, its shape becoming clearer the closer it got.

"Wait… is that?" Hay Lin mumbled to herself, squinting at the shape in the blue mass.

It suddenly lunged forward and came tumbling out of the portal, landing in a heaping mess on the forest ground.

"Caleb?!" Hay Lin yelled out in shock, leaping forwards to help the young man stand, wincing when he hissed in pain and clutched his stomach.

"What happened?" she asked him, worry clear in her voice.

"It was Frost, he attacked a village and me and my rebels tried to help, we underestimated his numbers though. There were to many, I ran for the closest portal to come and get you guys, see if you could help?" he asked them hopefully, looking them all in the eyes, well, all but Will's as when she looked at him he immediately dropped his gaze to the ground.

"Frost?" Will asked sharply, getting a nod as a reply, she ground her teeth together in anger, "let's go then."

She shoved past the others and sauntered into the portal, her earlier worry of it causing harm now gone. She had some unfinished business with Frost the Hunter; he always was one to visit her cell to mock and humiliate her during her captivity.

The five stared at the portal, frowns on their faces.

"Anyone else think Will's been acting kinda strangely lately?"

"Not, this, again, just leave her alone you guys." Caleb growled, standing to his full height and turning to walk back to the portal.

"Come on; let's not start another useless fight." Hay Lin sighed, quickly prancing after the rebel leader.

~Ax~

The girls all let out involuntary gasps of shock when they saw the sight of the small village in front of them. They could see some of Phobos' soldiers running around, attacking rebels and smashing up buildings. There was smoke coming from inside the small houses and they knew that the whole place could easily go up in flames.

"Okay girls, lets make this quick." Will grumbled, her eyes still fixed on the scene before her, scanning for the blue hulking body that was Frost the Hunter. She blindly reached down her shirt and pulled out the Heart of Candracar, it glowed once in her hand and floated off of it slightly.

"Wait, what's our plan here? Are we just gonna go barrelling in?" Irma asked her incuriously, noticing how her eyes never did leave the village.

"Precisely," Will gave the other five no time to react to her statement, holding the Heart out over her head, "Guardians Unite!"

The soldiers, rebels and villagers all looked up at the shout, some feeling relief and hope whilst others felt fear and some annoyance. Frost glared at them from his hidden spot on top of his green rhinoceros like creature, Crimson. This was just what he needed. The lights from their transformation soon stopped and he set his glare on the red headed guardian who continued to scan the area for him. He ducked his head down and turned Crimson back into a shadowy patch, waiting for the correct moment to attack.

Taranee and Irma rushed down to the burning buildings, Taranee controlling the flames as much as she could whilst Irma doused them out with some powerful water jets. Cornelia flew down to a group of soldiers that had decided to attack a single rebel, landing in the centre of the group and slamming her fist onto the ground. The earth rippled once before a double shockwave emitted from the ground sending all the soldiers flying back and into several other guards around them. Hay Lin took notice of the dirt that had stirred up from Cornelia's attack and floated over it, spinning rapidly on the spot to make a small tornado form around her. The tornado sucked in some running soldiers, battering them with its gale force, dirt and rocks until they reached the top of the tornado and was sent flying out of the top of it and crashing to the ground randomly.

Will however was flying above the whole battle scene, her eyes narrowed as she continued to scan the area. She didn't even flinch when one of the soldiers from Hay Lin's tornado went flying in her direction, merely backhanding him aside and sending him in an opposite direction. She was determined to find Frost, find him and make him feel as defeated as he had made her, she was so contort with rage her eyes began to itch, the tell tale sign that her eyes were changing again to the chilling purple and black.

She was still looking on however when she saw something different from the fighting. Not far from the fighting but out of sight of the guardians battling down below she saw one of the soldiers chasing after a small girl who looked to be around seven or eight. She wasn't sure what had happened next, but she did know that the strange feeling came blaring back to life in her skull and that she was filled with a strange, almost protective, emotion that she hadn't felt in a while.

She flew down towards the two of them, her eyes held firmly on the soldiers back as she came closer and closer to his oblivious form. The girl had just tripped and fallen to the ground; she rolled over onto the back and started to crawl backwards in an attempt to get away from the grinning guard who came closer to her with his axe held firmly above his head. The soldier had just stopped to loom over the frightened girl for a second; he then raised both of his hands and started to bring the axe down.

The girl screamed in terror, watching as it descended towards her. The soldier suddenly jerked forwards and off the ground, flipping over the girl who had stopped screaming, and landing with a crunch behind her. The soldier opened his eyes and looked around for his attacker, wincing when his ribs throbbed in pain. He couldn't react much more than that though, a figure flew down from the sky like and arrow, all he saw was her red hair and right fist that was sparking with pink/purple electricity. Will slammed her fist onto his face, watching in satisfaction at the dent he now had there as he slumped to the ground. She turned back to the quivering girl who starred at her in wonderment and awe.

"Go." She growled to her, the girl scrambled to her feet and scampered around the corner of the street.

Will looked down at her hands, a strange tingling going through her whole body. She felt… good. Hell, she felt great. It was such a rush, taking down someone so easily. It felt fantastic. She heard a roar from behind her and turned quickly to see another soldier barrelling towards her, she grinned darkly.

He had no weapon with him for some reason and used his fists; he lunged forwards with his fist, aiming directly for her head. She raised her left hand and pushed his right to the side, leaving his chest open. She brought up her right fist and punched him hard on the neck, he choked for a second, whilst he was doing this she grabbed onto his right arm, looping it through her own and spinning him around, kicking the back of his knee cap to bring him down on his knees. Will quickly put her other hand on the top of his head and let out a powerful electric charge, he quickly slumped down in the mud, unconscious.

There was another almighty roar as three more guards came running with their weapons drawn. She ducked under the swing of one of their swords, spinning down low to sweep out his knees and send him crashing to the ground. She sent a quick kick to his exposed chest making him double into himself on reaction. Next thing she knew however, two large arms wrapped themselves around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, Will struggled but couldn't seem to get out of the soldiers hold. The final guard got her attention with a hard punch to her midsection, Will gasped before the anger took over her senses. She saw the guard aiming for her head with another blow and quickly moved her head to the side, the guard couldn't stop his fist and ended up punching the soldier behind her right on the jaw. She snapped her head back, hitting the soldier again on the face, she bent her knees and planted her feet on the guard's chest, pushing back against him sending him falling back a few steps and the soldier behind her backwards into a wall, hitting his head and finally loosing consciousness. Will stood up and faced the last guard, wiping the rain that had started to heavily fall, from her face. The guard stood up as well, picking up his sword and running at her mindlessly. Will stood and ran at the creature also, waiting until she was a few feet away from him and jumping to the floor, using its drenched state to slide on. She slid through the guard's legs, using his confusion to grab onto his knee as she went past. The guard fell to the ground and before he could react Will was kneeling by his head, her fist sparking with the pink and purple, connecting with his skull. She stood up, a feeling of satisfaction surging through her; this was what she was missing, what she craved.

"Will are you okay?" she heard a shout in the distance; she glanced over her shoulder and located the source of the voice as Caleb who was running, well, limping, down the hill towards her.

"Yeah, I'm just gre-" Will was cut off as a large object collided with her side, sending her smashing through the brick wall and collapsing under a pile of debris.

Will slowly sat up, shaking her head slowly as she tried to get rid of the black spots that had taken over most of her vision. Everything sounded strangely distorted as the room span randomly; she could hear someone shouting angrily in the distance and deep laughter coming from something closer to her. It sounded muffled at first, as though she were under water, but slowly it became clearer and clearer.

"-that Damien's little pet would be so easy to take down?" then there was laughter again.

"I was expecting more from the Mate of The Shadow Lord, but it seems like you were nothing but a mistake, I think I shall be doing everyone a favour by deposing of you right now don't you think?"

She heard him unsheathe something metal, most likely his sword, and then the heavy footfalls of his rhino beast.

_What are you still doing sitting here?!_

She felt herself jump a little.

_I may hate you with every ounce of my being but I still want my body in tact when I get it back!_

He came closer now; she could see the green beast's feet. Her vision was almost better now; it looked like she was looking through a grubby mirror, and now she could move her arms a bit.

_I SAID MOVE!_

Will's body reacted on instinct, rolling to the side as the sword came crashing down by where she previously had been. She heard Frost yell out in annoyance as he pulled his sword out of the rubble, slashing it towards her again. Will stepped back ducking under the deadly metal as it swiped viciously at her, only stopping when her back hit solid wall. She looked at it, noticing a very small window close to it; she looked towards Frost who was smirking menacingly at her before pulling on the rains clutched in his hand, sending Crimson charging towards her.

As he got closer Will's own scared look turned into that of victorious, her mouth pulling into a smirk as her eyes flashed back from the brown they had been to the terrifying black and purple. Frost faltered slightly in confusion at her change but could do nothing except continue to charge at her.

At the last moment Will jumped up, planting her feet onto Crimson's face and pushed off, diving backwards through the window. When out of the building she span so she was facing the ground, tucking in to a ball and rolling out of the jump, quickly standing to run a few feet. Crimson came smashing through the wall sending a shockwave that sent Will to the ground. Powerful or not, all these hits on her head were taking their toll of Will's conscious.

She groaned and stumbled to her feet, taking in the destruction around her, she couldn't help but smirk slightly, destruction gave her a thrill.

Will heard another growl and turned around slowly, sighing in annoyance when she saw Frost's battered and bloody form stride out of the dust that had settled in the area. Will thought about calling for some back up from the other girls but from the sounds around them she figured that she wouldn't even be heard. And where had Caleb gone to for that matter?

"So I underestimated you guardian, no matter it shall not happen again."

And yet again she ducked under his wild swinging, jumping when he went for her legs, unfortunately she did not see the fist heading for her midsection. She growled again when it made contact, pushing her over a broken part of a house that had been destroyed in the attack. She tried to move yet could not when his heavy foot slammed down onto the neck; Will chocked and tried to move it from her but his superior strength and size prevented her from doing so.

"And this will be your demise, farewell, guardian." He raised his blade and pushed it down to her chest. There was a sudden shout that distracted Frost enough to look up, locking hate filled emerald eyes with his own as the person slammed into him, using their whole body weight against him to send them both crashing to the ground.

Caleb used Frost's confused state to get on top of him bringing his fist down to his jaw multiple times with a powerful strength behind each hit. Frost snapped out of his confusion quickly, raising his hand to catch Caleb's in a death grip, crushing it slowly. Caleb hissed, using his other hand to punch Frost on the wrist to make his grip go limp for a second. As soon as his large blue hand slacked Caleb pushed himself off of Frost and onto the soggy ground rolling to the side. Frost quickly got up to his feet, spitting blood down onto the floor in distain that the _child_ had managed to land a hit on him.

He raised his sword and swung across horizontally, Caleb just managed to duck under it, bending his back backwards and staggering upright once again. He gasped as pain shot through his leg but tried to push it to the back of his mind, glancing at the dazed guardian on the ground watching intensely.

_You're doing it for her, do not mess this up._ He mentally growled to himself, ducking under another of Frost's wild swipes.

He did not manage to dodge a lower swipe to his legs, jumping a second too late as the metal caught onto the bottom of his boot, sending him slamming to the ground. He looked up, his eyes widening at the sword heading right in between his eyes, Caleb rolled to the side. Frost growled again, yanking to sword out of the ground, feeling angry and humiliated by how difficult the whole situation was.

Caleb stood into a crouch, his back facing Frost, as he rose to stand, his hand getting a firm grip on his sword handle. He waited for the perfect moment, which was a second later. He span around, sheathing his sword and slamming it against Frost's with an echoing clang. He brought it up to stop Frost's once again when he brought it flying down, quickly moving it to the side to block another blow. He could see that the longer he fought, the more annoyed and angry Frost seemed to get, and with that his strikes became predictable and easy to block. Just to annoy him a little more he send the blue creature a mocking grin.

"Getting tired?" he asked. Frost just growled back in anger.

Caleb should have noticed the soldier sneak up behind him but he was too caught up in Frost to see him. That is until it stepped loudly into a puddle directly behind him. He gasped in shock, quickly turning to the new enemy who didn't give him much time to do anything as they lunged forwards with a crude dagger. Caleb moved to the side, making the dagger miss him for the most part yet still slice him across his chest. He blinked away the painful tears in his eyes and brought his right arm up, pushing it under the soldier's arm and looping it around the back of it, pushing him to the side. He used his other hand to place it on the soldier's shoulder blade and push it down to the ground. He landed with a squelch and Caleb placed his foot on his back, slamming the hilt of the sword onto the base of its skull.

Before he could rest for a moment Caleb had to duck, having heard the blade cutting through the air. He put up his own sword in an attempt to parry with Frost but he had not gotten a firm grip on his own sword, it awkwardly clashed with Frost's and flew out of his grip with the force of Frost's attack. So now he stood in front of the taller creature that was breathing deeply but standing victoriously over him.

"Now what are you gonna do rebel? Try running off back to your hole?"

Caleb reached to his belt and pulled out his small dagger, Frost seemed to find this beyond hilarious.

"And what are you gonna do with that? Butter some bread?" he laughed mockingly.

Caleb glared at him, waiting for him to make the first move.

"So that's your plan 'ey? Well, this should be quick." Frost ran forwards, that cocky smirk still on his face.

When he was close enough Caleb ducked under Frost's arms, falling into a roll and quickly standing in a crouch. He used both hands to plunge the dagger into Frost's back, taking minor joy when he howled in pain. Caleb span on the spot, pulling the dagger out when doing so, and quickly burying it into the other side of Frost's exposed back, green blood flowing from the creature's wounds and onto Caleb's gloved hands.

He ducked under Frost's hand that swung wildly behind him, spinning to the front of Frost to slice across his stomach. He ducked under another of Frost's swings and landed another stab on his knee. He pulled the dagger out and watched in satisfaction as the brute of a creature collapsed onto his knees before falling on his front, sending mud flying every where. Caleb stood staring over the blue and green body, breathing heavily to calm his racing heart. He sheathed his dagger back on his belt and turned away from Frost, limping over to Will who was staring at him in some form of shock and wonderment.

Will had been happy to just sit back and let Frost take out the boy and then kill the brute herself, she had not expected for the rebel to completely destroy the creature.

_I can see why you like him._ She thought, not planning on doing so until she had thought it.

_Yeah… a lot…_

She almost felt pity for how lost the voice in her head sounded, but it just was not in her nature to feel that emotion.

"Will?" Caleb asked tentatively, stopping a few metres away from her.

She opened her mouth to answer when some movement from behind Caleb stopped her, her eyes widened.

"Caleb, look out!" she shouted, Caleb turned to be met face to face with a large blue fist, sending him down to the ground. He looked up in disbelief, Frost smirked at him and rose his large foot. Caleb could not take his eyes away from him, adrenalin now gone and he was frozen to the spot.

"No!" Will shouted, that strange feeling from before coming back, and this time she did not resist agreeing with it. She flew forwards and slammed into Frost, sending the both of them to the ground like before, this time however, Will used her heightened strength to keep Frost's arms pinned to his sides and her left hand to keep his shoulders trapped. Her right fist, sparking with a darker purple energy, smashed against his face, hitting all she could, continuing even when green started to mix in with the blue. She felt her eyes itch as they once again changed colour, her teeth ache as they sharpened to a point, and Frost would be lying if he said he was not terrified of this new development, Will paid the changes no mind, focusing purely on the creature below her. She only stopped when a firm grip held onto her upper arm, stopping her punches. She snapped her head around, baring her sharp teeth and growling slightly, as soon as she saw who it was however her features quickly shifted back to her normal ones.

Caleb blinked; he could have sworn that for a second…

_No, it's just Taranee getting to you._ He chided himself; this was _Will_, the girl he loves.

"Will, calm down okay? You did it, he's unconscious." He told her, his voice filling with concern.

"Yeah, sorry, I just got carried away…" she trailed off, looking down at her bruised knuckles as she slowly stood up. Caleb caught her hand in his and ran his thumbs gently against the bruises, blushing when she looked at him curiously and slowly dropping her hand.

"We should get back to Cornelia, she can heal our wounds," he told her, keeping his gaze on the ground, "let's leave him for the rebels to collect."

He turned to walk away, Will following after him.

"I just wanted to say by the way, you did great out there," She told him softly, Caleb started, she hadn't spoken to him like that since before she was taken, "thank you." she finished, meeting his eyes with her own chocolate brown.

And in that second Caleb forgot all about what had happened, all about Will's capture, Damien, arguing with the other guardians, because the look in Will's eyes was one of love that seemed to leek through from deep inside her, just like when they first met in their pit-like prison. Although it only lasted for a second as Caleb witnessed a seemingly mental barrier go up and that same strange look appeared in her eyes. The softness left her face and she walked faster, Caleb stood still, watching her walk away.

"Your welcome…" he whispered, his words lost in the heavy rain.

~Ax~

Yan Lin opened the backdoor to the restaurant, a trash bag in her hand. She gasped out of reflex when she saw a figure standing there in the shadows.

"Who are you? If you don't come out right now I will have to get my mace." She threatened. The figure quickly moved into the light and Yan Lin let out another gasp when she saw the drenched form of the fire guardian before her.

"Taranee? What are you doing out in this rain you silly girl? Come in here right now and get dried off." She commanded, practically dragging the young girl into the room.

"Thank you Yan Lin, but I'm not going to be staying long."

"Oh I see, would you like me to go grab Hay Lin for you? She may be asleep but…"

"Oh no! I didn't come here to see Hay Lin, I-I came here to see you actually."

"Oh really, what about?" Yan Lin asked curiously, noticing the distress on her face and the dark bags under Taranee's eyes.

"It's Will."

"What about Will? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, well, I guess she is, but it's really from how you see it. And _I _see it very differently to the _others_, but they won't listen, and-"

"Taranee, I'm an old woman, I cannot keep up with your over sped rambling, now try again but tell me slowly."

Taranee took a deep breath and told Yan Lin about all her thoughts and concerns, about how Will was acting strangely, the difference in her attitude, her thoughts about how easy it was to find her again, how she noticed the monetarily physical changes in the girl. She told her everything. Throughout the whole thing Yan Lin kept her face unnaturally blank, nodding her head to encourage the girl to continue speaking. By the end of the discussion Yan Lin felt like she had a clear idea of what was going on, even though she felt herself crying on the inside she kept her face indifferent for the guardian's sake.

"And that's what has been going on…" Taranee finished, looking shyly at the older woman who smiled warmly back at her.

"You have been very observant." She stated mildly, Taranee flushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah, I get that a lot…"

"Taranee I will look into this for you, though I feel as though all is not as bad as it seems. Go home young one, go home and get some sleep, God knows you need it." She smiled at the younger girl who nodded and after a brief goodbye left through the door. As soon as the door shut Yan Lin's cheerful expression melted away in the blink of an eye, her eyes reddening with tears she kept back and she leant on the table next to her, feeling her true age for the first time in years.

"Oh Will… I'm so sorry…" she whispered.

Her shoulders shook with silent sobs as the memories attacked her mind, she slowly looked up, her eyes holding a determined glint in them, she would not allow it to happen again, not again.

Yan Lin quickly walked up the stairs to her room, once inside going over to her closet. She opened the dark wooden doors and pushed her clothes aside, placing her hand on the cool glass of the mirror behind them; she mumbled some words in an odd language and the mirror seemed to fog up. As though a gush of air swept past, the fog suddenly cleared and she was met with the face of the Oracle.

"Yan Lin, what brought you to contact me?" he asked her with his normal calm tone.

"Its Will Oracle, I'm afraid it's happened again."

The Oracle's expression turned solemn as the words registered in his brain.

"I see. She must be stopped, at all costs."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading :)**


	10. One Little Duck

**A/N: Sorry for the wait :S but I hope that this makes up for it :) please R/R! :D**

**Discalimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

* * *

Irma groaned when she felt some soft probing coming from behind her eyes, she rolled over in her bed in hopes that ignoring it will make it go away. Soon after this however, the probing became much more prominent, actually making the girl wince. She pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block it out.

_Guardian!_

She yelped at the sudden deep voice, jumping out her bed in shock and landing on the cool floor with a thud.

_What the Hell Taranee?! _She thought to the voice.

_Hey, it wasn't me!_

_Yeah, we all just got as rudely awakened as you Irma._

_Oh… shut it Corny._

_Don't call me Corny!_

_Guys, waayy too early for this…_ Irma had to hold in a snort at her best friend's thoughts, knowing just how much that girl treasured sleep as though it were a pile of diamonds.

_I am sorry for the rude awakening Guardians._

Irma yelped again at the voice.

_Seriously Irma?_

_It shocked me, okay?!_

_What is it you wanted Oracle?_ Taranee asked, thankfully breaking the growing fight between the blonde and brunette.

_I need the four of you to come to Candracar right now, which includes the Rebel leader as well._

_Wait, four? What about Will?_

_You will find out soon enough._

_Wait, so she's not even going with us to Candracar now?_

_Don't tell me, you're on a 'Hate Will' campaign as well?_

_Enough Earth Guardian, come to Candracar, and all will be revealed._

With that the connection was broken and Irma sighed, slowly dragging herself off the floor and pulling on some clothes from her closet. When she was dressed Irma glanced at the clock by her bed, whimpering when the red lights read 3:38 AM.

"Stupid Candracar… Stupid Oracle… Stupid mornings…" she grumbled to herself, suppressing a yawn and shuffling towards the bedroom door, stopping to stare at her bed longingly, and then quickly closing the door. She lightly ran down the stairs and out into the street, all without waking the house. Her cry of annoyance almost did though, when a sudden rain pour decided to show up.

"This had better be important…" she growled darkly, pulling up her hood for show, and using her powers to keep the water off of her, stomping down the street with a murderous intent.

~Ax~

After using their own mini crystals in the Silver Dragon, the four girls, one boy and one ex Guardian walked through the portal that led to Candracar. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the bright white light that seemed to glow in Candracar, and when they did they all took in the sight of the unusually empty room. There were no other creatures sat around the hall, only having four figures stood in a line, staring solemnly at them. Halinor smiled slightly at Yan Lin.

"Yan Lin, it has been quite a while."

"Yes that it has, if only it could have been on such a nicer occasion.

"Indeed, the Oracle has informed us of our little… problem." Luba spoke, her eyes scanning over the five teenagers who looked on in confusion.

"Luba, I doubt this would be classified as a 'little problem', need I remind you what happened last time?" Tibor grumbled, the guardians noticed that as he said this, both Halinor and Yan Lin seemed to flinch subconsciously.

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Irma asked, trying to break the awkward tension that had settled in the room.

"Yes, but first, let us tell you of some past history, something that we all wish to have forgotten."

As the Oracle said this, a transparent circular orb seemed to appear out of nowhere, spinning a few times before slowly coming to a stop. Its form was filled with colour that soon resembled that of a girl, her hair was a flowing black that went just to the middle of her back. the faded image around her slowly misted out, revealing four other people with her, their arms all draped over each other as they walked, all looking very cheerful and happy.

"The girl that you see with the black hair was once a guardian like yourselves, a guardian of Quintessence. She was named Nerissa. She was one of the best leaders we've had; she had a great mind, always using the tactical solution, protecting others, very powerful, and such a great thirst for knowledge. That generation of Guardians were one of the best to ever exist."

This time the image changed to a slightly older looking version of all the girls, in their Guardian forms and fighting off some giant centipede looking creatures, when the leader with the black hair destroyed one of the creatures she was stood in front of a cave. They watched as she turned, as though her name had been called, and then slowly walk into the cave, the other guardians were none the wiser of her disappearance, until she screamed. The image faded when they dragged the irresponsive woman out of the cave, calling her name loudly and trying to rouse the girl.

"She never did tell us what happened in that cave," the Oracle sighed, a frown working its way over his brow, "but what we do know was that she had changed."

Now he turned to look at the girls, staring them each in the eye as he spoke.

"We do not know exactly what happened in there, but we do know, she was not herself anymore, she was someone else entirely."

The other four adults in the room hung their heads.

"She became obsessed with power, she craved it. It wasn't until Luba," he gestured to the cat woman who nodded in acknowledgment, "noticed something odd about her Auramere, that we began to realise what had happened."

As he said this, the image shifted once more to that of the Auramere of Quintessence, although this one didn't glow its normal pink colour, it looked darker, as though someone had smudged some purple into it.

"As soon as I was told this, I came to the realisation that she was becoming corrupted, so with much regret, I took the Heart away from her, and this seemed to send her insane. She attacked the Guardian of Water, who I had bestowed the Heart onto; in an attempt to steal back the Heart. The following fight ended in the Water Guardian's untimely death. She seemed to realise what she had done and fled before any one could come and take her prisoner. She has not been seen or heard of since then."

The Guardians were all silent, their eyes widened in shock at the new information.

"Why are you telling us this Sir?" Caleb choked out, staring at the Oracle.

"Because Caleb, this is Will's Auramere."

A circular hole opened in the floor in between them, a round shape floating out of it.

The newcomer's eyes widened, their mouths dropping and hanging loosely.

Will's Auramere, its normal colour was a bright pink. But this Auramere, it most certainly was not.

Instead, it was a dark menacing purple, only a few traces of pink still swirling around in its dark mass.

"What does this mean Oracle?" Cornelia asked, taking in a shocked breath of air when some of the pick, what little there was remaining of it, sparked out of existence, immediately being replaced by the darker colour.

"It means what I said earlier Earth Guardian, she is not Will anymore," all heads in the room snapped to look at him, some in disbelief, others in anger.

"Well what does that mean? That she's gone? That she's dead!" Caleb shouted, his fists clenching at his sides.

The Oracle did not reply.

"No, it means that she is still fighting." Halinor answered, still looking at the ground.

"Yes, she is strong, I will give her that." Tibor commented.

"This is what you must do guardians, you need to find her and bring her here before it is too late. If the Auramere becomes completely dark then I am afraid we have lost her." The Oracle told them.

"I will not let that happen."

"Neither will we." Hay Lin agreed with Caleb, the others nodding with them.

"Very well, this may be of some use," he held out his palm and a clear circular shaped crystal appeared in his hand, with a gentle push it floated over to Yan Lin, softly landing in her outstretched hand.

"It was used on Xanderbious the Executioner; it shall absorb quite a lot of the darkness in her as it did to him, temporarily freezing her long enough for you to capture and bring her back to Candracar."

"Thank you Oracle," Yan Lin bowed her head a little.

"But this you must remember, the person you shall be confronting, it will not be Will. It is someone else entirely. Do not let it deceive you."

He gave them all another hard stare, moving onto the next person when they nodded to him.

"Good now, be on your way. Please guardians, be safe."

They all nodded again and left the white hall through the portal that had once again re opened.

~Ax~

Susan sighed when someone knocked on the door, rushing over to it as she tried to calm herself down a little. She was a little surprised to see the group of five teenagers standing crowded around her door, but not as much as she first had been when moving to Heatherfeild. Susan gave them a quick smile, in her hurried state not able to acknowledge the sober look on their faces.

"What can I do for you kids today then?"

"We were just wondering if Will was here?" asked Cornelia.

"Oh, she said she had to go out but will be back in time for the barbeque."

"Wait, barbeque?" Irma questioned.

"Where have you been these past few days?" Susan teased, "Your father invited everyone round for some dinner."

Irma blushed lightly and stammered out an excuse about school being overly distracting.

"Wait, so where has Will gone?" Hay Lin asked again, a frown of confusion on her brow.

"Oh I don't know, she said that she was going to her happy place, where she goes to think." Susan answered with a shake of her hand.

A light seemed to go off in Caleb's head and he now seemed eager to leave the apartment.

"Thank you anyways, I can't wait to see you tonight Miss Vandom, you look stunning." He smiled roguishly at her, making the older woman smile.

"Why thank you, it was very nice meeting all of you too."

The others said their farewells and left the apartment building, waiting until they were outside to question Caleb.

"The lake, she showed me once. There's this small lake not far from here hidden by a small wood, she used to go there to think."

They all nodded, quickening their pace and letting Caleb guide them.

~Ax~

It was silent as the small group of teenagers trudged through the dark mass of trees, following after Caleb who still had a disbelieving frown on his face. they all had varying thoughts, some from sadness, some feeling hopeful that it was all untrue, and others boiling in anger at the accusations made towards a certain red head.

"Guys?" Hay Lin asked timidly, not likening the fact that she was the one to break the silence, "What are we gonna do?"

"What do ya mean Hay?"

"I mean, if this is all true and will is, you know… not herself anymore… then what _are_ we gonna do?"

"Well… we would…" Irma trailed off, for once not having an answer.

"Then we will have to do what the Oracle told us to do, we will need to capture her and take her back to Candracar, like we would normally do." Cornelia said.

"Yeah but this isn't like before is it?" Caleb stopped in his tracks, ignoring when Hay Lin bumped into his back at the sudden stop, and face the other girls, fire blazing in his eyes, "This wouldn't be like a normal animal hunt that we do for the creatures from Meridian. We wouldn't be attacking a stranger, Will is our friend and she is still somewhere inside. Hell, for all we know she is still normal, and her Auramere is just acting up."

"But Caleb, the Aurameres have been around for centuries, I doubt they will have malfunctioned."

Caleb growled dangerously at Taranee, unwilling to accept the more probable truth. He turned sharply on his heel and marched away, the girls quickening their pace to follow him.

They continued to walk for quite some time, weaving in and out between branches and tree roots, the only sound being that of their grunts of discomfort and footsteps on the ground.

But then they all heard something else.

They all froze in place, staring in front of them at the slight opening in between the trees. The trees were arched naturally, leaving a small hole to walk under; when they looked through the hole they saw quite a lovely sight. The grass was greener than the rest of the forest floor, surrounding the body of water in the centre of the clearing. Not far from the entrance of the clearing was a large tree that towered over all the rest, casting a shadow around its base. But this was not what caught their attention, it was the teenage girl with crimson locks sitting cross legged by the tree, carefully stroking the duck which was sat obediently on her lap. And there was another peculiar thing with this image; the girl seemed to be singing to the small duck.

"What is she doing?" Taranee whispered, blinking rapidly as though the scene would change back to a more… natural one.

"She's singing to the widdle birdie! Aww…" Hay Lin whispered back, able to hear through the wind currents before all the other teenagers, smiling widely. The others strained their ears also, trying to listen. As if floating on the winds, Will's voice carried over to them

"_One little duck went out one day,"_ Will began, singing in a haunting voice as she slowly stroked the ducks back.

"_Over the hills and far away," _she began to smile menacingly.

"_Mama duck said, 'Quack, quack, quack, quack,'"_ As she sang this the teenagers noticed how a chill seemed to settle, making Hay Lin's smile fade away and the others quickly become weary.

"_But no little ducks came waddling back…"_ Will stopped stroking its back, her eyes shifting and teeth sharpening, her grip on the animal tightening as she let loose a powerful electrical current on the defenceless animal. She watched as like before with the other ducks lying lifeless on the ground next to her, the animal stayed perfectly still, her influence not allowing it to move in the slightest. After a few seconds she cut off her power, making the animal slump in her grip without the electrical charge to keep it staying up. She chuckled to her self, bringing her hands up to snap its neck, for good measure.

A gasp from the entrance of the clearing brought her attention away from her fun, standing up and spinning around, to come face to face with her former self's friends. Her eyes had reverted back to their original brown colour and she looked at them with wide eyes.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked in a strong voice, although on the inside nervousness began to settle in, she couldn't fail her Master, not now.

"How about what are _you_ doing here?" Cornelia asked her, the blonde's eyes wide as she stared at what her friend had done.

Will followed her gaze to the pile of dead ducks and she subtly knocked them to the side, "They were like this when I got here!" she shouted in her own defence, her hands raised in a surrender fashion.

"We saw what you did Will." Caleb told her, although he kept his gaze to the ground, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.

"I didn't do anything-." Will scoffed.

"Yes, but your not very good at acting either." Taranee cut in.

"Say what now?" Will asked sceptically, eyebrow rising.

"Well first off you have been acting nothing like Will has, not as caring or kind; you act false in everything you do. You would sneak off at random times and just seemed to love it when any of us got into trouble. The Will we know would look out for us and protect us, and she would not go head first into a battle like the one in Meridian without a plan all for a personnel vendetta. And the final thing, besides from this right here, which _really_ put the nail in your coffin, was the fact that _Our_ Will is completely and unconditionally in love with Caleb from the day they first met." Taranee was breathing deeply, her own anger at the creature that had inhabited her friend's body making the area several degrees hotter.

Will looked from person to person, all of which looked back at her with different stages of anger, and she sighed.

"Ohh well, it was fun while it lasted." She said, stretching her arms over her head. She put her arms down and re opened her eyes, the others all had to hold in another gasp as black and violet eyes bore into each of theirs. Will smirked, the corner of her mouth rising to reveal a sharpened fang like tooth as she appraised them.

"Despite it was fun to mess with all of you, make you enemies one moment and friends the next, it was all starting to get a little… tedious, and, shall I say, rather boring." Then she laughed, echoing across the clearing which had started to wilt, the grass going brown and the water murky.

"What have you done to Will?!" Caleb shouted over the sudden gust of wind that had entered the area, flicking Will's hair around her head as she continued to smirk at them.

"Oh now is not the time to chat I'm afraid, I have things to do, you see. And I am feeling quite peckish, perhaps I should stop off at all of our family's little get together, hum?"

"Don't you dare go anywhere near our families! How about you just let Will go and hand yourself in!" Irma shouted to Will.

"Now, did you really think that was going to work?" with that the shadow from below the tree ripped up from the ground in strips, spinning around Will's form with powerful speed, making the others all fall to the ground at the wind being blasted their way. Caleb managed to look up and lock eyes with Will's black and violet, she winked mockingly at him, and then with a final slam of wind, she and the darkness that was surrounding her, disappeared, leaving nothing but destruction in the small clearing, and despair in the hearts of those she left behind.

"What do we do now?" Hay Lin muttered, her eyes scanning over the upturned roots from the tree which looked to be clawing and the ground.

"We go to Irma's place and confront her, that's what."

"What if our parents see us?" Cornelia asked Taranee.

"Then we take them to Candracar, they could wipe their minds and make them forget or something mystical like that." Irma muttered.

"Then what are we waiting for? We gotta go!"

And with that the four girls and one boy all turned tail and sprinted out of the destroyed clearing.

~Ax~

"Mom? Dad? You guys here?"

"We're out in the back yard Irma! Where've you guys been?" came the reply as the teenagers piled into the house, slamming through the French doors at the back of the house, breathing a sigh of relief at the normal setting of their parents, the women sitting on deck chairs and the men all hanging around by the barbeque, crowding the small garden.

Yan Lin sat up from her chair and walked over to the teenagers, her happy expression turning grim the closer she got to them.

"I take it that the Oracle was correct?"

They nodded solemnly; Yan Lin sighed and glanced over her shoulder.

"Will has not shown up yet, I fear it might not be long however."

As soon as the Ex Air Guardian finished speaking, the women all got a little louder as they greeted someone. The all looked up, not surprised at what they saw.

Will was leant down, hugging her mother tightly who was laughing at something her daughter had said. The red-head looked up at them after breaking out of her mother's hug, smirking and giving them a mocking salute before confidently walking to them. They all took a few steps back instinctively as with her came a dark eerie feeling that made them all shudder, not realising that this had effectively hidden them in a corner away from their families' line of sight.

"Why hello once again my, what does she keep calling you? Friends?"

She laughed at their glares.

"This isn't you Will, you have to fight it!" Hay Lin looked into the brown eyes of her friend, thinking to herself how they looked so different from when she first came to Heatherfield, darker and angrier.

"And what would it be that I would need to fight?" Will asked, a lazy grin creeping onto her face.

"Whatever the Hell that's corrupted you that's what!" Irma yelled.

"Well I guess you could say it's a… new tradition for the Keeper, don't you?"

"W-wait, what?" Taranee questioned, her eyes widening a little as she slowly processed the new information.

"Oh, I've said too much." She smiled mockingly at them all again, failing to notice as Yan Lin slowly snuck up behind her.

"Just give it to us straight, what do you want? What must we do to get Will back? _Our_ Will." Cornelia ground out, her fists clenching tightly by her sides.

"Well perhaps you could-!"

Yan Lin had lunged forwards, crystal held in her palm, touching it to Will's neck. The reaction was instantaneous, Will's eyes screwed shut and her mouth opened in a silent scream. She collapsed onto one knee, her hands knotted in her hair. The teenagers moved forwards to help her as a whimper escaped her mouth but were stopped by Yan Lin's arm which had shot before them; she kept her gaze on the convulsing form on the ground as they looked to her in confusion.

"We cannot touch her yet, the crystal is still in effect and the darkness could absorb into any of you."

"But it's hurting her!" Caleb yelled just as a strangled sound emitted from Will, her hands tightening considerably.

"But it would hurt even more to be slowly crushed by the creature that has slowly been taking her over." Yan Lin bit back.

The teens all looked helplessly down at the cowering girl, their hearts breaking a little with each sound that came from her. The crystal had gone from pure white to a coal-black, vibrating heavily as it seemed to get darker.

"Something is wrong…" Yan Lin muttered.

"What do you mean Grandma?"

"It's still absorbing the darkness, it shouldn't have lasted this long." The vibrating became much more violent and with that Will's skin got paler.

With an inhuman growl from Will, the crystal suddenly shattered.

The girls all squealed a little in shock, flinching away from the shards. They all watched as the darkness seemed to hover over Will, who was still down on one knee with her head bowed and her hands in her hair, in a circle, before quickly shooting down and absorbing back into her pale form, she sighed in relief.

She slowly stood to her full height, allowing the guardians to take in her sickly looking skin, her sharpened nails which had turned black; her teeth had sharpened, pointing out from her lips a little. Two things really caught their attention however, an inch thick jagged purple line which came down from her left with a sideways triangle pointing to the left next to it. Her eyes are what really got them however, the whites had turned black, darker than anything they had ever seen before. The irises were a striking purple with blue flecks and her pupils were pin pointed.

She stared at them for a moment, her expression neither mocking nor confident, merely blank, until she spoke.

"Attacking someone from behind? Funny, how the legends about the great Air Guardian, Yan Lin, have lied so much. And that of the new guardians also, how very, disappointing." Her voice had changed, making it sound heavenly yet terrifying at the same time, making the guardians all tensed in anticipation of a fight.

"But you are not the only ones with new… tricks."

Will's eyes shifted, the pupils becoming cat like slits as hate clouded over, glaring the small group before her, and then she slowly started to clench her right hand.

Yan Lin gasped, reaching up to grasp her throat as all breath left her. She fell onto all fours, trying in desperation to gain some oxygen into her panicking lungs.

"GRANDMA!" Hay Lin shouted, lunging forwards and leaning over Yan Lin who had rolled onto her back, her heart slowing as her oxygen levels began to drop. Irma and Taranee followed after her whilst Cornelia and Caleb stood there too shocked to function. Will was stood in the same place as before, staring down disdainfully at the older woman's cowering body, her hand almost completely clenched.

"Please! Please! J-just stop! We're sorry! Please let her go, don't hurt her, please!" Hay Lin begged, tears streaming down her face as Taranee and Irma tried hopelessly to get Yan Lin to breath.

"Goodbye Yan Lin." Will spat, closing her fist completely.

"NO!" Hay Lin hollered, catching Yan Lin as she collapsed to the ground.

"Hay Lin! What's wrong?!" Hay Lin's father shouted, running around the corner of Irma's house, pausing when he saw his mother being held in his daughter's arms, who was crying painfully.

"M-mother? Mother!" he shouted, barging past Will and sliding to the ground, looking over Yan Lin in horror, "Joan! Call 911!"

During all the movement everything seemed to go into slow motion for Caleb, Irma's dad running around the corner, hysterical voices from the other parents and kids, Hay Lin and her father trying desperately to rouse Yan Lin, the ambulance sirens coming from the distance, it all faded out. He looked up to lock eyes with Will emotionless ones. Still keeping hers looking into his, Will stepped back, disappearing much more subtly into the shadow cast upon the wall.

The last thing he saw was her bringing her finger up to her lips.

"_Shhh…"_

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading :)**


	11. Mirrors

**A/N: Here it is :)**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter 11: Mirrors

* * *

The shadows swirled in a spiral of black and purple, flowing down into a cone-like-shape and touching the ground. After spinning like a miniature tornado for a few seconds, the shadows faded out, leaving Will in its place.

She looked around the area where she had shifted to, it was a cave entrance on the side of a cliff with dead black trees spindling out, clawed hand shaped branches reaching out. The ground was cracked and dry, as though the life had been drained from the small area. The cave mouth itself seemed to becoming darker with every second and as her purple eyes scanned over it she could clearly see as it swirled with an unknown life force.

She walked towards the caves entrance and paused before crossing the threshold, swiftly dropping down onto one knee and bowing her head.

Seconds felt like hours as the silence beat against her ear drums, the only thing close to a sound being her light breathing. Her patience was soon rewarded, a very faint sound of gravel under feet as their owner slowly approached her destination. She fought against her natural instincts to look up, keeping her head bowed as the person got closer.

The person stopped walking when they were a few feet away from her, yet still she kept her head bowed.

"I assume your cover has been broken?"

"Yes, but the deed is done. I have hurt their hearts and kept Candracar's for my own."

Damien smirked, "Good, then come my dear. It is time you meet our Master, he will be most pleased."

Will took his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet, an identical smirk appearing on her own face.

"Then we must meet him."

Then the two of them walked hand in hand down the cave, eventually being swallowed in the darkness.

~Ax~

Fading in and out of existence was a horrid thing, one could do nothing but listen as their loved ones panicked and fretted over your health, yet do nothing to try and reassure them. She could feel everything, hear everything, yet could not talk or move.

"_We're losing her!"_

And then, the feeling of something being injected into her blood stream and a sound of something powering itself up.

"_And we're clear!"_

A shock shot down her body before she blacked out again.

There was another sound now, a muttering from a stranger.

"_She's lucky to be alive, if only just."_

Then when she re awoke it was with the presence of an irritating beeping in her left ear.

"_She suffered a heart attack, she will be groggy for a while, but she should make a full recovery, with the right care ."_

"_Yes, thank you doctor."_

"_You're welcome Mr Lin."_

After re surfacing for another time she felt something warm cradling her own hand, she was conscious long enough to hear the sobs of the young person holding it tightly.

"_Please Grandma, we don't know what to do, you have to wake up. For me, for the girls, for Will, for Candracar. Please… we don't know what to do… I don't know what to do…"_

Unfortunately she had faded once again before she could comfort her Granddaughter. The next time she gained back some more consciousness the room was mostly silent, so she had time to think. She had survived. How, she did not know.

She saw Will, the murderous desire in her eyes, she should be dead.

But she wasn't, Will had spared her. But… why had she?

The next time she came back, she could feel the presence of five others in the room with her. She could tell right away that they were the Guardians, she mentally smiled.

"_Wait, did she just smile?!"_

From Irma's exclamation, perhaps it wasn't just mentally.

"_Grandma? Grandma, are you waking up?! Squeeze my hand if you are, please say you are…"_

Yan Lin did as asked, gently squeezing her Granddaughter's hand.

"_Oh my God! She's waking up!"_

"_Nurse! Nurse!"_ she heard as Taranee and Irma jumped from their seats to get a nurse.

With a great deal of effort, Yan Lin opened her eyes, quickly closing them at the bright light. Cornelia seemed to understand her problem, reaching out to flip the switch, dimming the lights in the room. Having heard this, Yan Lin opened her eyes again, but slower this time.

"Grandma!" Hay Lin threw her arms around the older woman in a crushing hug; Yan Lin winced at the loss of air, yet hugged the younger girl back.

"Careful Hay Lin, I'm not as strong as I used to be."

Hay Lin mumbled something into her shoulder where her head was thoroughly buried. Yan Lin chuckled and hugged her back; she looked over her shoulder at Cornelia, who she noticed had dark bags under her red rimmed eyes.

"What happened to Will?" she asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, Cornelia's eyes filled up with more tears, yet she blinked rapidly to stop them falling.

"She… she's gone."

~Ax~

This place made her feel uneasy.

She had walked with Damien to her new chambers, which was basically another, cleaner cave with furniture, and dressed appropriately, as he had suggested, also as another form of protection if she would need it in her human form. Wearing black knee high leather boots, black trousers, a white undershirt, black fingerless gloves, black leather body armour and a black robe with dark purple intricate designs on the hood which she must keep on at all times whilst outside.

After she had changed, she met back up with Damien and the two walked down the cave, to the centre of its structure. On the way Damien had explained how the cave had entrances to every point in Meridian such as Phobos' castle, the sand pits at Torus Finley, and much to her shock it even had a link to the Infinite City. But only creatures of darkness which were granted with the ability to pass through the gateways by the Mater could enter, unless the Master, for whatever reason, allowed someone the protection to enter, like he had done for Damien the first time. To do so without this protection would end with the fool stupid enough to try, be torn apart by the devils in the shadows which guarded the gates entrances.

"When you meet the Master, _do not_ look him in the eyes without permission. _Do not_ disrespect him. _Do not_ disobey him, and probably the most important if you value your existence, _never, fail him_."

Will looked at Damien as he grasped her shoulders, seeing the emotion in his eyes, she understood. He didn't want to lose her.

"I promise."

He looked relived; he placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the large dwarfing door which had many strange carvings cut into the locking mechanism, two humanoid reptilian figures standing guard outside of it. They dropped their blades in a cross, blocking Damien and Will from entering. Will and Damien snarled, their eyes becoming cat like slits at the threat that the two reptiles provided.

"We are here to see the Master you fools!" Damien hissed, bearing his fangs dangerously. The two guards shared a look and quickly brought their weapons back to their sides.

"Imbeciles…" Damien muttered, walking forward to place his palm against the door, he glanced behind his back at Will and gestured with his other hand for her to do the same, "It is necessary I'm afraid my dear."

Before Will could ask two small spindly arachnid like creatures skittered out from the pattern work, their hard legs clashing against the door as they approached their hands. One reached Damien first and seemed to observe his hand for a second, and then it brought one of its pointed legs up and slammed it down, piercing Damien through the hands. He hissed quietly, Will looked back at the one approaching her just as its leg also went through her hand. She groaned but tried to hold any sounds of discomfort as a strange cold feeling spread out from the solid, now identified as metal, leg, like a liquid going into her blood stream. This continued for a while, the cold freezing any heat that remained in her body through her transformation. She could feel something fighting however, what it was she knew not, but it was strong.

Finally, after an agonising few minutes, it retracted its leg from first Damien, and then her, its eight eyes flashing red and then turning back to purple. They scurried off, seemingly absorbing back into the doors wood work.

Will looked up from her bleeding hand to see Damien rubbing the blood off of his own; she was shocked to see only a small scar on the back of his hand where moments ago had been a bleeding wound. He looked to her and smirked, gesturing to he own hand.

"It will heal quickly, not as fast as my own but give it a few minutes." She nodded and followed after him, not turning around as the heavy doors slammed shut behind her. The darkness they were effulged in was only momentarily as soon torches she hadn't know was there suddenly lit with a green flame. The now lit hallway was impressive, it had carvings over the walls, from what Will could tell, they were about some great force concurring other universes and worlds, ruling over all. The floor had a deep red carpet that ran down the steps into a large chamber, at the end of which the floor had risen in more steps to a stone stand. Looking at the top of the steps she could see the outline of a figure sitting on a throne. From what she could see of him was he had pale hands like hers, and from little the light allowed her to see of his face was that he too had sharpened teeth. From what she saw, he looked young; despite the short locks of white hair she could see hanging down by his chin.

She looked up and her breath caught in her throat, he was looking at her. Will quickly dropped her gaze and fell onto one knee besides Damien, his eyes… they terrified her. From in the shadows he was hidden in, they had stared into her very soul, for that moment, she felt like he had seen her every thought, feeling, her doubts, her angers, everything.

All she saw was a pair of glowing, literally glowing, purple orbs; nothing else was visible but those purple irises, edged with a golden ring, an identical one surrounding the pupils, boring into her own eyes.

~Ax~

"So she has gone?" Yan Lin asked solemnly, being answered by the four nods of the remaining guardians.

"Yeah, her Mom's in hysterics again, thinking she was kidnapped again. The Police think the same."

"And where has Caleb got to?"

"He didn't take it really well…" Taranee mumbled, still hearing the ringing in her ears from Caleb's frustrated shouting before he had left again to Meridian the other day.

"It is to be expected I suppose…" Yan Lin sighed and rubbed her weary eyes, pausing to glare at the needle in the back of her hand.

"What do we do then?" Cornelia asked, looking to the ex guardian for guidance.

"Well, I presume that she will be the first one to make a move, when she does then we will also be there to try and reason with her. If that fails, we subdue her, and take her back to Candracar."

"But she was strong Grandma, like, really strong. Not as strong as that Damien creep… but strong enough to beat us."

"But Hay Lin, I don't think she would want to use her full powers on you all."

"What do you mean Yan Lin?"

"I mean the bond you five girls share is extraordinary. To harm one another would be like to harm ones self. She tried to kill me the other day, I think she would have if she could, it was her intention after all. But that small part that is still Will fought against it, she knew hurting me would hurt you Hay Lin, and in turn the rest of the guardians."

"So what you're saying is…"

"I'm saying that there is still a chance of Will coming back to us."

~Ax~

"My Master we bring great news." Damien spoke clearly however his head was still bowed.

"_Then share it with me."_ The Master returned, his voice was hollow and bone chilling, although it held an air of experience and intelligence along with its darker undertone.

"Your newest follower has completed her task."

The hands on the chair, visible in the rooms dull glow tightened in excitement.

"_Bring it too me."_

Will stepped up out of her crouch, walking up the steps to the throne upon them. She slowly pulled the Heart of Candracar out from around her neck and held it out in front of her, dangling from the chain. When she was mere steps away from the Master's terrifying presence a tug behind her head made her stumbled a step. She felt a wave of panic from the dark part of her mind but she quickly pushed it down.

She saw the Master's hand out stretched, eagerly waiting for the Heart, but could she give it away? She wanted to, she must to please her Master and Damien, but a part of her just simply… couldn't.

She shook her head and dropped the heart into his pale palm.

The reaction was instant. The glowing pink of the Heart evaporated immediately, purple and black sweeping in and colouring the crystal into a much darker colour, floating around it like fog.

"_You have done well, I feel like I must reward you."_ the Master spoke in that chilling voice.

"Serving you is enough Master."

"_Well how about I offer you this? An opportunity to show that you do not need them any more, that they are a waste of your time."_

This peaked Will's interest.

"_It will most certainly give the Guardians and Candracar which side you have chosen, also they might begin to realise the power all three of us possess."_

Will smirked to the ground, "I would be most honoured, Master."

The Master gave his order for the two of them to leave, but when Will turned she felt something cold touch her arm, she almost shivered, it was like touching a ice.

"Come Will, you should rest first." Damien lured her away and down the steps.

"_And Will," _she stopped and turned back to face him, still not meeting his eyes, "_have fun."_ She nodded her head and turned back, the Master watching her walk out of his chambers with the ever loyal Damien by her side. He did not admit it, but this little redemption scheme would help him also. How else to terrify the lords of Candracar than have one of their own, the most powerful of guardians, turn against them.

He chuckled to himself, staring at the ever darkening Heart in his hand, this _would_ be fun.

~Ax~

He had snuck back through an open portal after the guilt of just abandoning Hay Lin, the only person even close to resembling family for him, at her moment of torment, too trapped in his own pain to think about her, or the others for that matter. They had lost a friend and a leader; they were all just as distraught as he was.

So now he lay on his small cot in the Lin's basement, trying in vain to fall asleep. He rolled over again and stared at the wall, finding its white paint work incredibly interesting as his tired mind found something, anything, for him to think about.

"_He's here."_

Caleb stilled at the whispered sound, making chills shoot down his spine.

"_He needs to wake up."_

"_Wake up Caleb."_

He sat up in his cot and looked to all corners of the room, his breathing becoming fierce as the voice continued to speak.

"_Come on Caleb, I haven't got much time."_

Wait, he recognised that voice… it was familiar, but who was it?

"_Caleb, get up!"_

He jumped out of his cot, standing in the middle of the room, spinning around trying to find the frustratingly familiar voice. But then he froze, there was a strange feeling down his back, almost like he was being watched, then he felt it, as though someone was breathing on his neck.

"…_Turn around Caleb."_

His breath caught in his throat, he recognised that voice. How could he have forgotten it? He had spent most days and nights dreaming about that voice, and it was here.

He turned slowly, facing the full length mirror Hay Lin had put in there a while back when he had first came to Earth. Except his reflection was not the one looking back at him. He choked out her name.

"Will?"

She smiled at him, nodding her head.

"W- Will, is that really you? Or is this… some trick… to get my hopes up only to make me hurt even more when you-."

"_Caleb, it's really me." _She now smiled again, although it was in sadness this time.

Caleb looked at her, for the first time noticing the little things about her. She wore the same clothes as the day she was taken, although these were clean, not torn or coated in blood and dirt. Her hair was perfectly kept as was her slightly tanned skin, not a single wound etched onto it. He looked up to her eyes, almost expecting to be met with a devious violet, smirking evilly at him. Yet they were not, they were her beautiful chocolate brown with small flecks of a lighter honey colour, and in their depths were the emotions that she hid from all others, open for him to see. There was sorrow, fear, sadness and… love.

"Will…" he breathed, a true smile spreading over his face. He ran to her, intending to embrace her in a hug and never let her go. Instead however, he ran into the mirror. He looked at it in confusion before recognition washed over him. He couldn't get through.

"_Caleb…"_ Will sighed sadly, reaching up to place her hand against the mirror surface, as though it were really a window separating them, Caleb quickly raised his hand to the mirror and placed it over hers, silently marvelling in the slightly warm feel from where her palm was, _"Caleb, I don't have much time."_ she placed her forehead against the glass, her eyes closed. Caleb did the same, but kept his wide open, taking her in as though she would disappear at any second.

"_Look,"_ she opened her eyes and met his with a serious expression left open in them, _"my body, it's been possessed by… something. I'm not sure what, but I do know that she is taking orders from someone else. Both she and Damien are not acting on their own. I need all five of you to be careful. Do you understand?"_ he nodded his head, _"Good. But it seems like they are about to do something… something big. I need you to-."_ She gasped and looked behind her, seemingly able to hear something Caleb couldn't, something that scared her to the bone.

"Will what is it? Will?"

"_Shh!"_ she hushed him and continued to stare behind her. Will's eyes widened when the whispers got louder and louder.

"_Caleb, Caleb I don't have much time left."_ She faced him again and Caleb immediately tensed at the look of horror on her face, _"The Infinite City, Caleb they are going to attack the Infinite City in a few hours. You __need__ to get there __now!__"_ she looked behind her again and this time Caleb could hear the angry hiss like sound coming from the mirror.

"Will! Will what's wrong?!" he got louder as Will visibly paled and locked her eyes to his.

"_Listen to me Caleb! The Infinite City! Go there with the girls and fight them!"_ she flinched as the hissing got louder, _"It's here…"_

"What's here? What's here Will!"

She gave him a defeated look, _"The shadows."_

Before Caleb could say anything the mirror seemed to flicker, and then, Will was gone.

"No… not again…" he fisted his hand in his hair and with a shout of anger slammed his other fist against the wall, caring not about the pain that shot down his arm. He took several deep breaths and remembered what Will had told him.

"The Infinite City…" he whispered to himself, his eyes widening, "I have to get the girls!"

He span on his heel and ran out of the room, grabbing his trench coat and pulling it on as he went.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading, don't forget to R/R, they help me to write faster... ;)**


	12. Infinite City

**A/N: I would like to say that I did intend to post this chapter last week but I couldn't finish it on time because I had to go to Poland for a school trip, I hope this chapter makes up for being so tardy with my updateing...**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Twelve: Infinite City

* * *

Will was walking down the narrow and damp hallway of the entrance to the Infinite City, which Damien had revealed to her. There was a feeling of unease in the air as she ran her hands across the wet walls, pulling her hand back, noticing that it wasn't water like she had first thought, and actually being odd goo like substance which clung to her hand when she tried to rub it off on her pant leg.

Giving up on getting it off of her hand, Will raised her right hand and clenched it into a fist, a glow soon sparked out from between her knuckles and lighting the hallway in a dim purple colour. Doing this enables her to see some strange markings scratched onto the wall, looking like those from the caveman era. There were many crude drawings of stick men, some with spears and seeming to flee from something, others lay on the floor, some with random body parts missing, some without their heads. She trailed her finger along the stone, ignoring the feeling of the gunk now around her hand, and read along the wall. There was some strange writing next however, in large letters.

"_Alerga. Scăpa…" _Will murmured, her brow crinkling when the translation came to mind, "Run. Escape. How odd…"

She looked down the hallway and held up her fist, seeing two visible pathways, one was much lighter than the other, which was darker and had something hidden away in the shadows, out of her sight. Will cocked her head to the side and took a few steps closer, holding out her fist. When she was only a few feet away from the figure its shape came together.

It was a mangled skeleton. She should have known.

Will looked in between the two pathways, tilting her head in thought.

"Now… go the nicer looking way with nothing but insufferable boredom to accompany me, or the dark, scarier way with dead bodies at the door way…"

She looked at the skeleton again and smirked.

"I think we all know which way I am going to go."

She swept the cloak and stepped over the skeleton, ignoring the way its body seemed to be frozen in time trying to drag itself away from an unknown creature, that and how the body seemed to be half devoured.

The hallway after that was quite like the other one, only this had many more skeletons scattered around, some whole and others missing entire body parts. This mattered not to the confident red head that was determined to find this creature.

The hallway finally became wider; in fact it was a lot larger. It was a large underground lake filled with black water, the ceiling going up incredibly high so that the only indication that it ever ended was an opening in said ceiling which shed some light onto the water almost like a spot light would. Will approached the waters edge and crouched down, staring down at her reflection. When nothing happened she huffed and got back onto her feet, kicking a skull which had been on the side into the water as a sign of aggression. She watched as the water rippled from the skulls splash and when they had finally stopped, turned to leave. She only got two steps however when the sound of rushing water hit her ears, that and an incredibly fast object moving towards her back. She acted on instinct and jumped to the side, falling into an awkward barrel roll. There was a crashing coming from where she had been just moments before; she turned to watch as a large black reptilian head retracted itself from where it had recently been trapped, glaring with golden silted eyes and snarling with yellow teeth.

It pulled back into the shadows and reared up to its full height, being joined by two other shadowy figures.

She looked up higher, this thing was incredibly tall, almost reaching the top of the cavern and met not one, but three pairs of glaring golden eyes.

She smirked.

"Well look at this."

~Ax~

A few miles away from Will, was an impressive room, a throne room. It was large with fire lighting up the walls and green tiled steps leading up to the most noticeable feature in the room. It was a large indoor waterfall, one which was running with a substance that looked like normal water, but most certainly was not. The Guardians had been to this place before in fact, for this was the room in which the Mage resided.

The Mage was a powerful being, feared by her enemies and treated like a Goddess to those she protected. Not even the evil tyrant Phobos would dare approach this creature. It was rumoured that the Mage had no fears, as if nothing could harm her, what was there to fear?

But these rumours are wrong.

As she stood in the waterfall, her magic keeping the droplets from actually touching her, she felt worry and fear stir at the base of her stomach. She was very in tune to the powers of the universes, so she could feel any changes which would occur in the rifts. And she could feel it, the shift in power of darkness over light, and that worried her more than anything.

Then she heard the sound, one which she had wished never to hear again. The Mage's head slowly raised upwards, her eyes closed as she listened. It was quiet at first, but soon it became obvious where the sound was headed.

The monstrous roar from below her slowly faded back into background sound as it moved further and further away, the sound of rocks shifting as it went, going towards where the rebels had their base.

The Mage continued to listen, the sounds of a battle echoing through the water like substance that surrounded her, allowing her to hear all and everything which happened in the entirety of the Infinite City. She could hear as people fought and died against the beast she had imprisoned to protect the innocents of the outside world. But now she must protect them once again.

The Mage let out a deep breath and fell backwards, allowing the mists to surround her body and carry her to the unknown.

~Ax~

The shouts of men and women were loud, deafening the ears of both Caleb and the remaining Guardians. None of the rebels had taken to well to having to leave the base, not taking any of the supplies or personal items with them. They shouted how the corrupted guardian wouldn't be able to find them, how the City was too large and difficult to understand if one hadn't lived there as long as they.

"Listen to me! You are all in grave danger! If you do not leave now then we will have little chance to survive!"

"Nonsense! This place 'as bin hidden for years!"

"Yeah! Wha' makes ya fink that some kid is gonna be able to get in 'ere?"

The shouts were becoming louder so even the Guardians found it hard to hear Caleb, despite being a few feet away from him.

"But she isn't just _'some kid'_! She is a Guardian of the Veil!"

"Nah Caleb, she _was_ a Guardian!"

"Look that doesn't matter! The point is that she has been corrupted and is heading here right now, who knows what kind of powers she could posses!"

"Well surely the other four could take care of her." A man asked in a deep voice, its echo causing the others in the room to quieten, the question spiking their curiosity.

The teenagers looked at each other, the question burning into their minds also, would they be able to fight her? Their own friend?

"Well guardians? Will ya'?" a nasally shout from a woman in the middle of the crowd, when they didn't reply the crowd got into an uproar again.

"Look it isn't as simple as that-!"

Caleb was cut off when the ground suddenly started to violently shake, knocking several people to the ground and causing the people to panic at a much louder rate.

"What's happening?!"

"Is it' an Earfquake?"

"Can't be, there aint bin one fa years!"

"WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND BE QUIET!"

They all faced the Water Guardian who was holding up the Guardian of Earth, who had seemed to collapse backwards, but not because of the shaking. Now the whole room was silent, the only noise being Cornelia's ragged breaths and the sound of rock breaking down below.

"What is it Corny?" Hay Lin asked the blonde, who shook her head, sapphire eyes wide open.

"I- I don't know what it is, but something is coming-."

"What? What is it Cornelia?" Taranee frowned at the worried look on the other, normally confident, guardian's face.

"I'm not sure… but its heading this way… it's-!" she gasped, looking behind the large group of rebels and refugees, "Look out!" she shouted, fear dripping from her voice.

The people managed to turn just in time to see the ground begin to crack apart, three monstrous reptilian heads slamming their way through the ground and sending rocks and debris everywhere, Hay Lin shot forwards and created a force field of air, protecting the defenceless people from the rocks.

Caleb's eyes widened, watching as the creature, which was easily 50 ft tall, seemed to slither out of the hole it had created. Watched as its gigantuous black scaled and clawed feet slammed to the ground as it pulled itself out of the rocks. He saw its tail follow after, unravelling to smash into more, now disintegrated, rocks, shattering them instantly. Then it opened its tattered wings, looking as though they had not been used in centuries. Its heads, all three of them, simultaneously bellowed out an earth shattering roar, lightning coming from the middle head, flames from the left, and boiling water from the right.

The hearts of those in the room seemed to stop as it, or well, they, turned their heads to look at each of them, its eyes shining with malice and some kind of hunger.

All was quiet in the room, humans and humanoids watching the three headed dragon like creature, and the dragon doing the same to them.

"… Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me," Irma moaned, wishing, for once, fairytales would just stay in the books, "a freaking _Hydra_!"

"Everybody get to cover!" Caleb shouted, causing everyone to split and fall into an even greater state of panic, the rebel fighters quickly retrieving their weapons and standing bravely beside Caleb and the Guardians who had armed themselves with their element, or in Caleb's case, a sword.

The Hydra slammed its tail to the ground, sending a shockwave across the floor and up to the exit where the refugees were running to. Some rocks above the door shifted and pretty soon there was a whole landslide happening, people ran for cover and when the dust finally settled, they saw the discouraging sight of the only exit in the room, completely blocked off by large solid rocks.

"Cornelia, can you move those rocks!" Caleb shouted.

"What do you think my power is for?"

Before Cornelia could even raise her palm, the left head sent a powerful fire blast to the rocks, soon being followed by the boiling water from the right head and lighting from the middle. Everyone covered their eyes from the bright light of the lightning and white fire, only moving them when the Hydra stopped its attacks.

They were shocked at the state of the rocks now; they had melted together, although they looked to be even harder than before, sparks of lightning randomly coming out from the rocks.

"Guardians do something!" a refugee shouted from the corner of the room where most of them had hidden, keeping the women, children and elderly close to the wall as protection.

Hay Lin slammed the creature against the wall with a gale force of wind, holding it down with all her might as it struggled against the air. The Hydra opened its left head and sent a blast of fire towards the small guardian.

_Hay Lin! _Taranee mentally shouted, positioning herself in between the Hydra and Air guardian, slashing her right arm down across her body, the powerful stream of fire coming from the reptile suddenly changed course with this action and collided with the stone wall. Some of the rock tumbled down with almightily cracks, the rest trickling down the remains of the rocks as the intense heat had turned them from solid to liquid.

Another head appeared silently between them and opened its gigantuous mouth, before it could enclose them with it in a powerful crunch and rock slammed to the side of its face. The sound of it hitting the Hydra's scaled skin was enough to alert Hay Lin and Taranee of the danger which was mere metres away from them; they flew up and away from the creature.

The head shook away the dizziness and snapped its eyes to Cornelia who hovered in the air with more rocks floating near her, she clenched her fist and sent two rocks at the same time towards it, slamming it two more times. The head snarled and roared, its almighty mouth gaping dangerously.

"Oh be quiet." Cornelia sent the last rock flying at the reptilian head, making it become lodged in its mouth. She allowed herself to smile momentarily at the comical expression on its face, but it was soon wiped off as it glared at her with golden eyes and simply crushed the rock in its mouth.

She yelped and flew to the ground as it shot forwards, snapping its jaws at her as she flew in circles in order to escape it.

_Cornelia, up!_

She did as the voice said, looking back to see that the creature had taken a larger lunge at her, and would have most likely caught her.

_Thank Taranee._

_Don't mention it._

Irma ducked under another hot boiling blast from the right head, batting away another when it tried to catch her off guard with a surprise attack.

"Now that's just cheating."

When it growled and sent another explosion of water towards her, Irma span out of the way, her arms outstretched, she used the momentum and clenched her right fist, punching out when she had come back to facing the head after a full 360 spin. The water looped around with her, turning back against the Hydra and forming into a clawed hand like shape, it grabbed at the Hydra's right head and crushed it to the ground. The creature growled and fought against the boiling water, screeching at its eyes were burned by its own water.

"Hay Lin!" Irma shouted, the Air guardian understood what she wanted and flew towards her friend, sending freezing air to merge with the water. It quickly went from volcanic heat to that of the Arctic, freezing the head to the ground instantly.

The middle head surged forwards, smacking into the two girls, sending them careering into the wall opposite them. It moved forwards with its mouth bared, the yellow teeth dripping with saliva, suddenly the earth below it cracked, thick Jurassic vines exploded from the ground, looping around and trapping the colossal head in its tight grip. Cornelia tightened her fist and brought it closer to her chest, grunting under the pressure, the vines tightened and brought the head even closer to the floor.

The middle head growled, taking control over its tail and swinging it about madly. It crashed into walls and people, sending debris everywhere and knocking away the rebels who had been trying to attack its feet. It slammed into the wall over Irma and Hay Lin, they both managed to shake the darkness which had been covering their eyesight and launched themselves into the air and away from the cascading rocks. Finally it managed to land its tail where it wanted it to go, cracking the solid ice which had encased the other head, the middle head turned to the left one and hissed at it. The left head, which had been chasing Taranee with its fire blasts, turned to the leader head, it saw the right head frozen and opened its mouth, sending burning tendrils towards the other two. The fire singed the vines and weakened them drastically, allowing the middle head to tear free, making Cornelia slump when her control over them was destroyed.

They both faced the still frozen head until the middle one shot forwards and clamped the frozen heads neck.

The fighters all watched in horrified awe, as two lumps appeared from the wound, spreading out until they were the same length as the original heads, details forming until they were exact replicas of the other heads. They all reared their heads back, and bellowed a much louder screech than before, making some of the ceiling collapse and water burst forth from the new cracks in the walls, quickly turning a large portion of the ground into a makeshift lake.

"Oh come on!" Cornelia shouted, disbelief marking her tone.

"What the Hell did that thing just do?!" a rebel shouted.

"It's a Hydra, in Greek Mythology it's the Guardian of the Underworld, and it comes from the lake of Lerna. With every head taken off two more grow from it. I also remember that it has deadly blood and venom."

The other guardians all looked at Irma with wide eyes.

"What? I did get a B on that paper you know."

A burst of fire shot in between them making the girls scream in shock and scatter, the Hydra started to target them all at the same time, attacking with fire, water or lightning, also using its tail as a battering ram, only just missing them as they ducked under it.

"Irma! How exactly do you _kill_ a Hydra?!" Cornelia shouted, ducking under the tail and sending some rock to collide with the head which had fired at her.

"Erm… I don't remember that bit." Irma admitted, looping around a head and throwing water to the back of its neck, narrowly flying in between another heads jaws before they encased her.

"You what?!"

"Give me a break! How was I supposed to know we were going to be fighting a creature I thought was a myth only a few hours ago?!"

"Guys move!" Taranee shouted, redirecting some fire back at another head, Irma and Cornelia moved just when the tail swept by where they just were.

Caleb winced as more rocks fell down near where the refugees were taking cover, looking around for any sort of weakness in the rocks, nearly dying of relief when he spotted a crack. He turned to Vathek, Alderan and Drake and pointed up to the crack.

"We need to get that moved, maybe there's a way out."

"But Caleb, what of the Guardians? They will surely need help fighting such a creature."

Caleb looked back to the fight, gritting his teeth when her saw Hay Lin very nearly getting caught in one of the beast's mouths, and as Cornelia was slapped by the beast's tail and into the lake, falling to the bottom.

"There is nothing we can do, we would only get in the way attempting to help fight such a beast."

And Caleb hated that it was the truth.

"Corny!" Irma dived down into the water after the blonde, using the water to propel herself faster into the surprisingly deep water. She found the girl floating motionlessly in the black water and reached out, grasping the other girl's hand tightly in her own. She tugged her into a protective hold and faced the surface, influencing the water so she could get them out faster. She started to feel an uncomfortable itching in the base of her stomach as her oxygen levels dropped, with new panic she pushed harder to the surface.

With an almighty push she exploded out of the water, gasping for the much needed air. She was floating 30 ft in the air, holding Cornelia in her arms as she gasped for breath, when she felt it. Irma froze and turned around.

The largest head, the middle one, was staring back at her, allowing her too see the thin scar running diagonally across its face. And Irma knew, if reptiles could, it would be smiling maliciously. It reared back its head and Irma knew what was going to happen next, so she took her chance.

She glanced to the right and saw a ledge sticking out of the wall, she threw Cornelia as hard as she could, watching as she landed safely, albeit a little roughly. She turned back just in time to see the white lightning speeding towards her, before she was enveloped in complete and utter agony.

The whole room stopped as the scream of utter pain ripped across it, Hay Lin and Taranee, seeing what was happening, sped towards the Water guardian who was suspended in mid air, surrounded by the electricity flowing from the Hydra's mouth. They both yelped in shock and pain as the tail struck them down, taking their distraction as an opportune moment to strike. It then crushed them under its weight, making them unable to do anything but watch as their friend was slowly killed.

There was a sudden shift in the air, a powerful force erupting around the cave room.

"_Oprească!"_

The word was bellowed by a painfully familiar voice, all those in the room facing its owner. Floating above the hole which the Hydra had smashed through was a single robed figure, their pale hand out stretched towards the Hydra who seemed to freeze in fear. The middle head stopped its attack and the water guardian began to free fall the 30 ft drop. The hooded figure shot out their other hand and immediately Irma was suspended in mid air, the person slowly lowered their hand and with it so did the convulsing Guardian. The person turned back to the Hydra, glancing at the other two guardians trapped under its mighty tail.

"_Eliberai-le, acum."_

The Hydra speedily brought the tail up and away from the girls, who breathed in deeply as oxygen came rushing back to them.

The figure held out their palm, curving the fingers a little.

"_Eu te chem înapoi de unde ai venit."_

The Hydra wailed, thrashing about as a dark blue orb appeared in the figure's hand, it pulsed out once, and then twice, and the third time its light shot out and latched onto the creature.

It screamed out, as it was slowly sucked into the continuously brighter, glowing orb. Then the Hydra seemed to have paused, movement from all four heads stopping completely, and then in a sudden moment, it swirled together in a spiral and was sucked into the orb in the person's hand.

The person threw it up and caught it a few times, chuckling lightly to themselves.

"It feels like when I caught that wild Rayquaza for the first time a few years back, of course the Rayquaza was trickier…"

"Who are you?" Caleb asked, not understanding this stranger at all, although he could hit himself for not knowing that voice, it sounded so familiar, yet at the same time, completely different.

"You don't remember me Caleb? How… depressing."

The stranger through their hood back and the whole room reacted differently, some falling into protective stances whilst others whimpered, the loudest being the two still conscious guardians.

"This was a warning to you all. Do not try and mess with myself, Damien or my Master. This was only a mere _taster_ of the trials you will suffer through if you do not obey this warning." Her voice had gone from cocky and sarcastic, to harsh and cold so fast that it could have given Caleb whiplash.

"This isn't you Will," Caleb tried again; "I know that you can here me, so fight it!"

Will seemed to flinch a little before a mask of confidence was thrown up.

"Do you ever change that record? It's getting old now. And oh yes, you spoke with each other recently did you not? Well I've locked her up extra tight now so I hope you kept it fondly in your memory."

She lunged forwards, catching Caleb by the throat and lifting him into the air, quite a feat in itself with the obvious height difference, yet she still managed to hold him suspended in the air, slowly choking him. The rebels and still conscious guardians all yelled in protest, taking several steps forward until Caleb yelled out to them all.

"No stop! Don't approach." Though his words were slurred as he spoke around the ever tightening grip on his throat, they all, reluctantly, obeyed.

"Hmm, have them on a tight leash don't you?"

"What is it you want?" Caleb spat, trying not to struggle as he knew it would only make the pain worse.

"Well, I want many things. I want to rule over the lower species in each universe, I want to stay with my Master and Damien for eternity, I also would want you to keel over and die. The other Guardians following suit would help as well, so if you would be ever so kind?" she grinned, tightening her grip so her nails began to cut into his exposed flesh, he groaned in pain, looking down into her eyes as the sharp nails dug deeper and deeper.

His breath caught in his throat when horrified brown irises looked back at him.

"W- What am I- C-Caleb? Wh-ats…?" she dropped him and fell to her knees, clutching her head as thousands of feelings, thoughts and emotions which were strangers to her rushed through her head at agonising speeds.

"H-elp m-e…" she stuttered, tears filling her eyes as her foggy memory came crashing back down onto her.

Caleb rubbed his neck and crouched down next to her, cupping her face in his hands and he watched as her eyes flickered from purple to brown, her flinching becoming more and more violent with each colour shift.

"C'mon Will… fight it…" Caleb mumbled, his grip tightening ever so slightly as she shook, her eyes now tightly squeezed shut.

Suddenly she slumped down in his arms, Caleb cradled her protectively to his chest and looked down at her relaxed face, and slowly she blinked her chocolate eyes open, almost as though she had simply been sleeping the whole time.

"C-Caleb?" she mumbled, smiling a little at the relieved look on the rebel's face.

"You're okay… you're okay…" he mumbled, more likely for his own comfort than hers.

Will went to open her mouth, but was interrupted by a powerful voice, full of command and power.

"_**Oprii, creatură întuneric!"**_

Will's eyes went from brown to violet faster than Caleb could follow, he didn't have long to focus on it however, as he quickly found himself airborne.

Hay Lin and Taranee roughly caught him under each arm and hovered away from the hole which had blown inwards from the rockslide that the Hydra had created.

It was the Mage.

Will hissed, fangs exposed and her purple and black eyes sporting slits as they glared at the woman in the new doorway, her mark on her face pulsing out violet glows of purple as power surged through her. She was not a fool, she knew of the power which the Mage possessed, and was not willing to test herself against such an ancient creature.

"_**Surrender yourself. You are clearly out matched in skill and power."**_ The Mage commanded, her hood fluttering in nonexistent wind.

Will hissed back, crouching down like an animal would in the wild when threatened, her animalistic side rearing its dangerous head.

She leapt up into the air and spun a full 360, drawing shadows with her as she did. She then flipped forwards, falling back to the ground and landing a solid punch onto the earth. A shockwave of power echoed from her fist, which had cracked and mostly destroyed the floor beneath her feet, the shockwave sent everyone crashing to the ground, leaving only the Mage standing. With the distraction firmly in place, Will used the shadows she had collected and shifted.

~Ax~

"What happened in there?"

Will turned around and came face to face with Damien who had a scowl drawn over his features.

"Nothing, I showed them who I am, what I am capable of."

She went to carry on walking down the dingy corridor but was held back by a firm grip on her shoulder, Damien slammed her into the wall and used his height to stare down at her with a blank expression.

"Don't. Lie. To me." He practically growled, grasping her chin and forcing it up so he could look her in the eyes.

"I know what you did. First you save the Water Guardian, and then you spared that fool of a boy who dares call himself a leader."

Will did not answer.

"I know that _she_ is still inside of you, but you must resist any pull or influence she may have on you. _She _does not rule this body anymore, _You_ do. Now, I don't expect any more mistakes like this in the future, or the consequences should you fail the Master or myself will be dire. I may love you Will, but this is the truth which I tell you."

He squeezed her cheek gently, looking deeply at her one more time, and then quickly retracted his hand, sharply turning on his heel and marching down the corridor.

Will stared after him, fear dripping into her mind at the thought of failing him or… the Master.

_You hear that? I will not allow you to take control again, I allowed you the gift of saying goodbye to you're friend and you repay me with this betrayal. You __will not __take over again._

Then there was silence in her head, until a voice replied, almost smugly.

_**We'll see.**_

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Broken, things will start to heat up pretty soon so stay tuned :D oh, and please don't forget to R/R, when I see them they make me smile and cheer me up immensley :) thak you to those who have done so already and those who have been reading, the next chapter should be up in a week or so but I can't promise everything as I have other projects I need to work on also.**

_***IMPORTANT! If you has an idea of a Mythological creature that you would like to see in my story please leave a name and description about it either in the comments or PM it to me, I will try and put it in, :) * **_

**I've been speaking (writing?) too much now, hope you enjoyed the chapter :P**


	13. Mad World

**The lyrics used in this chapter are from the song Mad World by Gary Jules **

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter, please leave a review because they make me smile like crazy when I read them :)**

**Discalimer: I dont own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

* * *

She hurt. Damn it, she hurt _everywhere_.

What the hell had happened?

Where was she?

She sat up, grasping her head as it throbbed angrily. She looked around the… room? Space, area?

Where was she?

She stood up; at least she thought she did. There was no floor, she was floating, yet at the same time… she stood on the ground?

She looked up to the ceiling, or was that the floor? Was she even looking up? What was up? Hell, what was down for that matter.

She took a step forwards, or backwards, as her eyes tried to figure out what was going on.

Where was she?

The room was colourless, yet it wasn't black or white either. It was just… nothing.

Nothing.

Where _was_ she?

She couldn't breath, or could she? There was no oxygen, yet somehow she could breathe it in, her heart and lungs refusing to believe her panicking brain.

She heard nothing, just a painful silence which seemed to scream down her ears, yet the quiet was still there.

What had happened? She whimpered and clutched her head again as memories dashed over her mind. She was… in a cave perhaps? There was something big, defiantly big. What happened next though was lost to her-.

"_Cornelia!" Taranee had shouted, the girl could not react to the warning in time however, and soon felt the hard scaled tail slam into her side, then she was falling._

"_Cornelia!" another voice this time, Irma possibly?_

_She couldn't think more on it as her strangely numb body crashed into a wet substance. She felt as though she were being dragged away from her own body then, the last thing she could see was her friend's form diving into the water and desperately swimming after her._

_Then… nothing. _

Oh God… _where was she?_

She leaned against what she thought was a wall, taking deep breaths as her troubled mind tried to sort out what was going on in this place.

Then she heard it… was that… singing?

"_And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had…"_

She shivered, the song sending chills down her spine, accompanied with that haunting voice only made it worse, the sound of dissipating hope clear in their tone.

She didn't know what to do, what else was there to do but follow after that voice? She had no way of finding a way out of this… place and she also had no clue where _here_ even was.

She decided to follow the sound of the voice.

"_I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take…"_ it continued to sing, gooseflesh had risen on her skin and she brushed her arms to try and dispose of them, a nervous habit she had picked up over the years. She didn't even notice that she had reverted back to human form, the confusion and mystery of this place discombobulating her already exhausted mind.

She rounded what she thought was a corner, she may have imagined its existence but she still walked around it, and into the next… zone.

It was that strange colour again, no not colour, as there was no colour, just the same nothingness from the previous area.

But this one was different however, there were two large transparent disks floating in the air, she didn't know what they were for but it cast a strange colourless glow in the dingy space. She could see something moving outside of them though, like she was looking through someone else's eyes.

There was something else completely different with this room as well, that thing being the hunched over form rocking backwards and forwards by one of the floating disks, their head buried in their knees as they mumbled incoherently to themselves, the words shaking their way out of her mouth.

"_When people run in circles it's a very, very…"_

Cornelia took a shuddering breath, she _knew_ that voice. She _knew _that normally lively red hair which now hung limply around her shoulders.

She _knew that girl_.

So she called out to her, and instantly regretted it an instant later.

"Will?"

Will's muddy brown eyes, with black instead of white which seemed to be taking over the rest of her eye, slowly moved from their place on the 'floor' and up to the blonde on the other side of the 'room'.

She smiled, only it wasn't a friendly smile, she had seen those kinds of smiles before, when she had watched TV shows in school, the ones about hospitals and asylums.

It was the smile of the ones the doctors couldn't help, the smile of those who were too far gone for anything to save them.

It was the smile of insanity.

"_Mad world…"_

~Ax~

Susan stared blankly at the wall on the other side of her room. She couldn't function anymore. It had been five days since they had taken her daughter. Five days, 120 hours, 7200 minutes, 432000 seconds. Now 432001 seconds, then 432002 seconds…

_Five whole days_.

Neither hide nor hair of the red headed girl had been found in all that time. She had lost her once, and she had promised to both herself and her daughter that she would keep her safe.

"_You failed me mother."_

Susan whimpered, she had started seeing things now, her daughter, horribly disfigured by whatever her kidnapper had done to her, always blaming Susan, and Susan knew that she deserved each and every bout of verbal abuse she had received from the hallucination. Was it a hallucination? Perhaps a ghost coming back to haunt her for her sins and failures?

She didn't know what was worse.

"I'm s-sorry- I don't know w-what t-o d-."

"_Don't know what to do, don't know what to do!"_ Will sang, blood spluttering out of her mouth and onto the bed sheets she hovered over, _"Oh I know you don't know what to do, the only thing you can do is fail and break your promises."_ Her hurtful words were shrouded by the sing song voice of which she spoke them with, yet her eyes still managed to glare at her in disappointment.

"Will, p-please, I- I can't find you! I've tried but I-!"

"_Please, please, please! Begging, always begging for that forgiveness of which I cannot give."_

She shot forwards, floating above her mother and staring into her bloodshot eyes.

"_Do you know why I cannot forgive you mother? Why? Why it is oh so difficult for me to accept your forgiveness?"_ she growled when Susan didn't answer, _"Answer me!"_

Susan sobbed and curled into herself, covering her ears as the tormenting continued. She would do anything to make it stop, to get Will back. She would move back to the abusive Fadden Hills, make emends with Thomas, she would even trade places with her child just to know that she would be safe.

But even if she did these things, it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't bring her back.

"_Look at me mother."_ Susan robotically did as told, her eyes trailing over a scar which ran down the left side of the shadow's face, through her eye, lips and going down her neck, travelling under her tattered shirt.

"_Why is it so much harder for me to forgive you?"_ she bit out again.

"… because the d-dead... the dea-, th-ey c-can't-…"

"_Say it Susan. Say. It."_

"Because the dead c-can't speak…"

"_Yet still I am stuck here, watching you cry over the death of your own daughter which you had a hand in causing!"_

"Shut Up!" Susan cried, picking up the lamp on the bedside table and launching it at the hallucination. As soon as the lamp touched the girl, she quickly vanished, the lamp smashing against the wall, throwing away all light it had provided for the room and plunging the room into darkness.

Susan curled up into herself and cried, screaming out her agony as the thoughts and possibilities slashed through her head.

_Death._

_Rape._

_Starvation._

_Torture._

_Abuse._

_Scaring.._

_Madness._

All slow, painful things.

_They could be happening to her… to my Little Sprite. And I caused it._

"No!" Susan leapt out of the bed and crashed through the door, she pushed herself off of the wall opposite her door and staggered through her apartment.

_It used to be ours._

"Stop!" she hollered, reaching the door and pulling on a coat from the stand as she went.

_Your. Fault._

Death.

_All._

Rape.

_Your._

Starvation.

_Fault._

Torture.

_You._

Abuse.

_Killed._

Scaring.

_Her._

**Madness.**

Susan growled, this was not happening to her. She would not loose it. She would find Will and they would continue on with their lives. They would be happy.

Happy.

She would have laughed at the emotion had the ability to do so not have vanished the moment Officer Lair had come knocking on her door, bringing nothing but bad news with him.

She needed a distraction, something to do, someone to talk to. Someone who would listen to her and not judge her.

A name sparked in her mind and she set off with a determined stride in her step, heading towards the Heatherfield Hospital.

She ignored the baffled expressions of the workers as she quick walked through the double doors, she supposed they had thought that she looked rather dishevelled, clothes rumpled, hair a mess, tear tracks streaked down her face, blood shot eyes. Certainly not the most attractive she has ever been.

The receptionist at the desk managed to recover from her shock and quickly went into professional mode; pushing her glasses back up her nose and whipping a piece of her dark drown hair back behind her right ear.

"How can I help you Miss?"

"I'm here to see Mrs Lin? I believe she was admitted here a few days ago?" Susan asked, her voice cracking from misuse.

"Oh yes, Mrs Yan Lin, she is in the Recovery Suite, floor 3, room 62." The receptionist replied, reading the detail off the screen. Susan threw her a half hearted _thank you_ and disappeared over to the elevator, pressing the button multiple times impatiently.

Finally she was granted the sound of the doors opening, and thankfully the small room was empty.

After exiting the elevator and walking down the corridor Susan finally came to the right door, she brought up her hand to the handle but before she could pull it down the door suddenly opened. Susan gasped in surprise and looked up at the stranger exiting Yan Lin's room.

This person had long raven black hair, reaching down to their waist, she was tall, taller than Susan, and she seemed to lean over her threateningly. Her eyes were a strange light brown/amber colour, and Susan could see something in them, almost like a primal pain she had hidden inside of herself. She reminded Susan of someone… one of Will's friends perhaps?

There was also a… cold feeling around her. A dark, almost readily feeling radiated off of her, it felt so powerful that Susan took a shaky step back, this woman was terrifying.

"Who are you?" she barked, glaring at her scathingly.

"I-I'm a friend of the family. What about you?"

The woman stared at her, looking deeply into her eyes and Susan felt as if she were examining her soul, but finally she spoke.

"I'm a friend of Yan Lin."

With that she brushed past the frightened woman and down the corridor, taking a right instead of the left where the elevator was.

"Hey w-wait!" Susan called after her, following after the woman, intending to tell her of the correct direction, unable to fight away to good in her. She made it around the corner and was met with a dead end.

She frowned and looked around herself, spinning on the spot with her head whipping around in every direction to find the mysterious raven haired woman, yet she found none. All she did find was a locked window at the end of the hallway, illuminating the, for some reason dark, section of the corridor with the city lights outside.

Susan shook her head.

"I'm really loosing it…" she mumbled, and sped back to Yan Lin's door, finally opening it and stepping inside.

She tiptoed across the room, glancing at the heart monitor next to the elder woman's bed and then focusing on the person she had come to visit.

She was lying quietly on the white hospital bed; one hand lying on her stomach over the bed sheets, the other was by her side and was open on the side of the bed next to the chair which she presumed the dark haired woman had been sat upon.

She sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair and took the woman's hand, bowing her head in both respect and because all the emotions she had been feeling had finally caught up to her, crushing her under their weight.

"Hello Yan Lin." She spoke quietly, looking at Yan Lin's calm expression, even having a smile on her face. Susan felt envy towards her, oh how she wished she could be calm, wished she could be happy.

"I- erm," she cleared her throat nervously and tightened her grip a little, "I'm sorry that I haven't been to see you yet. I've been rather busy-" she laughed now, shaking her head, "well, I wouldn't exactly say busy. I've been anything but these past few days. Unless you count slowly going insane as a time consumer." She sniffed and used the back of her other hand to wipe the tears away from her face, this was too hard, could she really talk about this? Out loud? Saying it aloud would make it seem so… real. Closing all ways her brain could have thought up to try and convince her that the whole thing was a dream, that she could wake up and all would be fine. That she would go to sleep tonight, wake up in the morning, walking into the kitchen and find Will sat at the dinner table with a bowl of cereal, either finishing off some homework or talking to one of her friends on her cell phone. Then she would look up and smile at Susan as she walked into the kitchen, say good morning, and then they would both go on to do their own things.

No. She had to talk about it. Otherwise she would never get a hold of herself and that meant that she couldn't help the police find Will.

She had to do this, for both herself and her daughter.

"I'm not sure if you've heard, or if someone's told you-. Damn it… why is this so hard to talk about?" she sighed and griped the hand tighter, not noticing that it had begun to squeeze back or that Yan Lin's eyes had slowly fluttered open.

"Will's… Will's gone. She has been taken away from me, _again_. I- I've failed my job as her mother to protect her. They haven't found her, or found any trace of her yet. Most of our family and friends are searching, hell I think even the family of our friends are looking too! But… still nothing. I- I'm not sure what I'll d-do if she is… _gone_. I mean, _g-gone_, gone."

Her shoulders began to shake as more tears overflowed out of her eyes, she didn't know what to do anymore.

Yan Lin saw her crying and sat up, bringing her arms around the heartbroken woman and tugging her into a tight hug, rubbing her back soothingly and whispering calming words.

"S-s-she _hates_ me!" Susan sobbed.

"No child… she doesn't hate you." Yan Lin tried to console her.

"Yes she does, she hates me! She t-told me she does!"

Yan Lin paused and gave Susan a look of confusion.

"A-and now you think that I-I'm crazy…"

"No I do not, these are lies which you are hearing Susan."

"B-but she told me that-!"

"And do you honestly think Will would say such harsh things to one whom she loves so dearly?"

"She doesn't love me anymore… she has good reason to as well."

"These are merely dark thoughts your guilt has created in an attempt to destroy any hope you may have left for Will's safety." Yan Lin sat back a little, causing Susan to look up to her.

"Do you think she's safe? O-or she will be safe?"

Yan Lin saw the utter desperation in Susan's expression, voice and eyes, she had seen it before, and so she had to do what she had done once before. When telling the parents of one of her closest friends what had happened to their daughter.

"They will find her, I'm sure of it." Susan smiled and reached out to hug the older woman again, missing the sad look on Yan Lin's face.

_This is so much like last time… just like with Cassidy and Nerissa._

She glanced over at the window, taking in the night view outside, still trying to calm down the hysterical mother.

"She will be fine…" she whispered.

Throughout that night, more and more lies fell from her mouth.

~Ax~

Cornelia took several steps back, her eyes never leaving the form of her friend who was rocking backwards and forwards, humming some haunting song under her breath with a maniacal smile scraped over her expression.

"Will? Will what's happened to you?"

Will froze and snapped her head up, boarding her eyes into Cornelia's, the blonde had to hold in a shiver and tried to maintain eye contact for as long as she could.

Will continued to stare at her, no emotion shown on her face, but then her lips twitched. Her eyes crinkled and before Cornelia knew it, Will had exploded into fits of hysterical laughter. She had threw her head back and laughed and laughed and laughed, finding this completely terrifying situation hilarious for reasons Cornelia could not explain.

"What's so funny?" she asked again, clearing her throat in an effort to sound braver than she actually felt.

Will suddenly stopped laughing and locked eyes with Cornelia.

"I don't know, what's so funny?" she asked in a rushed manner, her face once more devoid of all emotion.

Cornelia frowned, confusion masking her eyes as Will stared at her.

"Well, you tell me." She said slowly, Will tilted her head and moved her eyes to look just over Cornelia's shoulder, a slight smile twitching at her lips.

"Well I could tell you, but would it really be me talking? It could be her; she uses my voice you know. She uses my voice, my body, and my head. So here I am."

"What are you talking about? Will, you're not making any sense-."

"Oh I am making sense, or rather she is. As I said, she uses my voice, my body, my-."

"Your head, I know." Cornelia huffed, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on was difficult if Will continued to spew out the same sentences over and over.

"Oh but do you?" Will hissed, glaring at Cornelia, now looking right at her rather than over her shoulder.

"You all seem to think that I can break free with words! I tried that once, I actually managed to speak to Caleb… but then she reigned me back in, saying my time to chat was done!" Will was shouting by the end of her exclamation, tensing up and clenching her fists in barely contained anger. Cornelia on reflex took a step back, chastising herself when she saw the sad look on Will's face.

"And now you're afraid… now I've scared you… she said I would, she said you would forget about me, she was right." Will dropped her head and started to rock again, muttering and humming under her breath.

"She lied Will, I'm not scared and I won't forget you! We will get you out of here; I promise that you will be safe again." Cornelia vowed, crouching down to Will's level. The red head snorted and snapped her head back up, Cornelia mentally groaned when she saw the same veil of madness was over her eyes again.

"Lies... So many of them everywhere. When can you tell what isn't a lie? How can you trust that YOU aren't lying to YOURSELF? This world is just so messed up, that nothing seems real to me anymore. Am I even real?" Will bowed her head again and almost whispered the next part, "If so... What about my existence?"

"I can promise you that I am not lying Will, you just need to tell me where we are and I can help you."

"You can't help me, No one can help me! I'm trapped here! She crawled into my head, played around with my mind and threw me aside when she was done! I am the unneeded part now. I'm sitting in here waiting to die."

Cornelia was shocked by her outburst but tried to remain strong.

"But you fought back! I know you did! You could do it again!"

Will laughed again miserably.

"She let me out the first time, to say goodbye to him in pity of me. She had loosened the reins just enough for me to break out a second time, to somewhat regain control of myself. But now… she's angry, and feels betrayed. How dare I take this gift she granted me and misuse it so greatly?"

"… What do you mean?"

Will growled, sounding like a rabid animal as she did so, and lunged forward, aiming to attack the blonde in front of her. Before she could get closer however, black vines sprouted from the walls, wrapping themselves around her torso, arms, legs and neck. Thorns sprouted out and dug into her skin making the girl cry out in pain, black electricity joined the mix and soon she was crippled on the floor doubling over in pain. Cornelia screamed and moved to help her but before she could even come within three steps of the injured girl, Will shouted to her.

"No! D-don't touch me!" when she finished speaking, the vine pulled back, pinning her to the wall behind her and keeping her down. The thorns sunk back in and the electricity stopped, then only the vines remained, keeping her firmly in place.

"She keeps me trapped here… she made it more difficult to escape. I- I can't- I… don't know wha-." Will clenched her fists and rubbed them in her matted hair, screaming in frustration.

"You are hurting my head! I don't want you here anymore! Go!" she shouted, looking up her eyes widened when she saw that Cornelia was still there.

"Will I can't just-!"

"Go! Go, go, go, go, **GO**!"

A burst of bright light exploded in the place they were in, surrounding Cornelia, when it faded with a crashing sound, Cornelia was gone also.

~Ax~

"Guardian?"

Cornelia gasped and sat up from where she had previously been lying, she looked up and saw the other guardians, Caleb and the Oracle stood around her. She winced at a slight tingling pain from behind her eyes and rubbed her temple softly.

"What's going on?" she asked tiredly.

"What do you remember?" the Oracle asked softly.

"I- I remember the… Hydra was it? And falling into something and… Will!" she gasped, her eyes widening when her memory finally returned to her.

"Yes, Will did arrive during the fight-."

"No! No, I saw her. I spoke to her. The Real her…" she finally noticed that she was on some sort of bed and glanced down to her wrists as they felt slightly restrained, it was a shock to see a pair of transparent bands wrapped firmly around them, attached were long cords tied to the bed, she pulled up her hand as far as she could, it jerked to a sudden stop about a foot away from her body.

"What the Hell?" she asked.

"Guardian, when you were found unconscious and brought back to Candracar a small slither of darkness was found in your mind. We have disposed of it and the bonds were merely a precaution if you weren't… yourself." The Oracle answered.

"Wait… if you could detect it, then why didn't you notice it on Will? You could have stopped it, you could have helped her!"

"Calm down Guardian." The Oracle commanded in a gentle but firm tone, Cornelia slumped and bowed her head respectively.

"I'm sorry Oracle."

"It's alright Guardian, but now, think back to when you first rescued Will, do you remember what she said to you?"

Cornelia thought hard until the memory came flooding back to her.

_"So what do we do?" asked Hay Lin nervously glancing at the slightly struggling red head._

_"Well I think we should take her to the Oracle-"_

_"No!" Will suddenly shouted, jumping up from the table and falling to the floor._

_"Will! Calm down!" Taranee said in a slightly panicked voice, trying to calm down her friend and her racing heart._

_"N-no! I don't want to g-go there. I ju-just want to go ho-ome…" she finished in a raspy whisper, sliding down the wall and collapsing onto the floor, grabbing at her head and clawing at it with her nails as she ducked down, putting her head in between her knees._

_"Its okay Will, we won't go there if you don't want to…" Caleb said quietly to her, slowly kneeling down next to her with his hands down at his sides in an unthreatening manner, knowing all to well that Will could be in a bad mental state at that moment in time. She watched him approach wearily, her body tensing when he got to close and glaring at him._

_"No, the Oracle said we had to go back when we found her!" Taranee argued._

_"I don't want to go there!" Will shouted, wiping her mouth as more blood fell over her lips._

_"Fine, we won't go there until you are ready, okay?" Caleb told her softly._

"Yeah… I remember." Cornelia sighed.

"Well because she didn't come to Candracar we had no other way of detecting it until it made itself known on her Auramere." The Oracle flicked his hand and the bonds quickly disappeared. Cornelia sat up and rubbed her wrists to try and get blood back through to them.

"Now, I believe you were talking about something before? You managed to communicate with the other guardian?"

"Yes, only she wasn't really… well…" Cornelia glanced quickly at Caleb who was leaning on the wall by the head of her bed, listening with rapt attention, she gulped and turned back to the Oracle, "… sane."

Caleb gritted his teeth together, clenched his fists and hit his head on the wall behind his head, tying to contain his anger and hurt that single word had caused.

"What happened Guardian?" the Oracle pushed gently.

"When I, 'woke up' in this place… it was like nothing I had ever… like nothing I had ever _imagined_ let alone thought of. It was strange… it was-," she cut herself off, with a frown, how could she explain a place that felt wrong to everything she had known in her life?

"It was… it contained… absolutely nothing. No light, no dark, direction, time or sense of reality. It was horrible. I felt insane for just being there for only a few… was it minutes? I- I'm really not sure."

"That would drive anyone mad…" Taranee mumbled her head hurting from trying to comprehend such a place.

"She told me that, whatever had taken over her, allowed her to say goodbye to Caleb, that it was angry that she betrayed it by warning Caleb of her plans. She said the reins have been tightened or something, that she wont be able to break free as easily as before."

The room was silent after Cornelia stopped speaking, they were all looking to the ground in thought, lost in their own versions of how to help Will, of how to save her.

"I told her that we would save her, but she didn't seem to believe me…" Cornelia choked as the events of what had just happened finally came crashing down on her, she quickly cupped her mouth as tears spilled down her cheeks, Hay Lin sat on the edge of her bed and brought the normally strong girl into a hug, allowing her to cry into her shirt as her own tears started to appear.

"We will find her Cornelia, Candracar does not abandon its own. And the fact that she is still aware of her surroundings and what is going on around her gives us the fact that she is still fighting. We have hope that she will be able to defeat this evil." The Oracle announced in a strong voice, trying to calm the teenagers and get their hopes back up for their lost friend.

Yet Cornelia could not help but think to herself.

_But how much longer can she keep fighting for?_


	14. Preparations

**A/N: sorry that this took so long, I have been on holiday with no internet connection and this chapter was amazingly hard... sigh, oh well it's here now :J**

**Disclaimer********: I don't own W.I.T.C.H or any of its characters apart from my OCs**

Chapter Fourteen: Preparations

* * *

The Master rolled the Heart of Candracar in his hand, staring at the now black gem intently. After all of his years of trying oh so very hard to gain this precious object which he held in his hands, he still found it hard to believe that he had finally, _finally_, got the Heart of the almighty Candracar in his grasp.

Of course he still needed advice on how to reach the next step in his plan, from sources he would have rather not have met, he scowled as he thought of the weak prince. The fool thought _he_ had some sort of power over this world, a Tyrant he calls himself. What nonsense.

A creaking came from the opposite side of the throne room; the Master clutched his hand around the Heart and looked up to see who had entered.

The creature was small, barely three foot tall; it had pale green skin, long, hanging ears and a drooped nose which was like an elephant's trunk. Its eyes were tired looking, being partially blocked by some small spectacles perched on the bridge of its nose. The creature walked with laboured steps, using both of its short arms to support the thick book he was attempting to carry. It finally came to a stop in front of the Master's throne, bowing its head in respect.

"What news do you bring me, Griffin?"

"My Master, I have discovered something which I hope will please you." Griffin replied, his voice was deep and croaky.

"Then show me." The Master stood from his throne and approached the small creature. He flicked his wrist and from the floor in between them a podium rose from the ground. Griffin heaved the heavy tome up onto the podium surface and skimmed through the pages, coming to a stop near the end of the book and pointing to one of the images with his stubby green finger. The Master looked over his shoulder curiously, taking in the image with interest.

"And what is this Griffin?" he asked as impatiently as the creature had yet to give an explanation as to why this drawing was so special.

"This, my Master, is a drawing from many a millennia ago, it was from around the time of The Great Kannton."

The Master's face shifted into one of intrigue, a forlorn look creeping into his eyes.

"Oh yes, I remember Kannton. I would have recruited him if his foolishness hadn't caught up with him."

"Yes my lord, as you remember, he too, once tried to achieve your goal."

Griffin gestured to the book again, pointing at the drawing of the Great and Powerful Candracar. The drawing had Candracar perched upon the clouds, yet instead of the perfection which Candracar is normally portrayed with, in this drawing it was a wreak. There were bodies scattered across the clouds, the normal white being stained red with blood. In the top corner of the page was the Oracle, his hand out stretched and an angry look on his face. The fighters were all running in fear, unknowingly heading for eternal nothingness. Then there was Kannton, held suspended in the air by a cage formed of pure light, forever trapped in Candracar.

"He had failed before even getting inside the palace." The Master muttered, glaring at the drawing of the Oracle with hatred.

"Yes, that may be true my lord, but look at what he achieved! He managed to get into Candracar, _with_ the Heart of Candracar!" Griffin had started to get a little breathless with excitement as he stared wide eyed at the drawing.

"I know he had the Heart Griffin, for it was I whom he stole the idea from."

"B-but Master! You have something he does not!"

The Master nodded at him to continue.

"You have the one who can _control_ the Heart! Control it as it is made to be apart of _themselves_." Griffin moved the glasses further up his large nose and edged closer, whispering as though he was sharing a very important secret.

"_You have the Guardian of the Heart of Candracar!_"

The Master's eyes widened and he looked over to the wall across him, the realisation of the fact he had hidden even from himself coming full force in his head.

"Of course…"

Griffin started to ramble madly, barely breathing as the information flowed freely from his mouth.

"The Heart chose her from the moment of her birth, it took her years growing up to become apart of her, a part of her very being. Despite the fact that she has been, _converted_ if you will, to your side, dose not matter. The Heart will still obey her instructions, it is even changing its colour and abilities for her needs!" he flipped a page in the book, showing a picture of Kannton, he jammed his finger on the picture many times, "Kannton did not have this power. The Heart alerted the Oracle of Kannton's presence the moment he stepped onto Candracar's lands, allowing the Oracle to assemble his fighting squad and take down Kannton's armies before they could even reach the inside of the palace walls."

Now he faced the Master, whose face was growing a deadly smile.

"You can control the young Guardian and use her power over the Heart to enter Candracar undetected long enough to hit the first attack on the palace!"

The Master slowly turned around and moved back to his throne, pulling the Heart out and eyeing its dark glow.

"Master?" Griffin asked, his smile slowly fading as fear took over.

"Is this everything Griffin?" the Master asked, watching amusedly as the small green creature shook slightly in terror.

"Y-y-es Master." He stuttered, taking a small step back.

"You have been a great and loyal servant Griffin, for your dedication and hard work, I thank you. But now I have no need of you."

"W-what? N-no! My lord, please! I have been nothing but faithful a-and-!"

The Master clenched his fist and watched with a smirk as Griffin started to fail about, hacking and wheezing as he attempted to get the much needed oxygen his lungs desired. He fell onto his knees and looked at the Master pleadingly as his chest burnt in pain. The Master took pity on the small creature, and with a flick of his hand, Griffin's head snapped to the side, breaking the neck instantly. His body limply fell to the ground; his eyes lay wide open, still showing the desperation he had felt.

"Guard!" the Master shouted, a soldier quickly ran into the room and stood to attention, gulping a little at the dead body on the floor.

"Go and inform the soldiers to prepare themselves, and send some to alert my privet soldiers also. Oh, and take that with you."

The soldier nodded and picked up the small body, dragging it out of the room. The Master waited until he had exited the room and looked down to the large book when he was alone once again. He flicked his wrists and the pages violently flipped back to previous pages, stopping on the one which had the Oracle printed upon it.

The Master smiled and clicked his fingers, the book caught fire instantly.

Soon enough nothing but ashes remained on the podium, blowing away in an ominous wind.

~Ax~

Will stood in front of the large mirror in her chambers; she wore a short sleeved shirt which allowed her to see the marks that decorated her skin. She placed two fingers on the line just under her eye and slowly traced down it, running them over her clothes when it went under her shirt. She followed it down her left arm where it went from under her forearm to the opposite side, reaching down to the back of her left hand. When it got to her hand it curved into a circle which had a black tribal sun inside it, this pattern seemed to glow with a dark light.

The door knocked gently three times. Will faced it, smiling slightly at Damien who stood leaning against the doorframe with a crooked grin on his face.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, noticing how he looked at her approvingly.

"Long enough," he pushed off the wall and sauntered over to the red head, "to know that you are ready."

Will frowned and placed her hands on his chest, pushing back to look him in the eyes.

"What do you mean, 'ready?'"

Damien smirked and shook his head, looking at her roguishly and slinking his arms around her waist.

"Your markings, they have progressed…" he ran his finger gently over the pattern on her face dropping his hand as he got to her chin, "this means you are reaching higher power. I am proud of you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and backed away a few steps.

"Why do you look so… excited?" Will questioned.

"I have some things for you." Damien held out his hand and from the air some pieces of material appeared, floating gently into his palm. He made them hover over onto the bed, displaying them for her.

The clothes was a small black waist coat which had blue trimmings around the edges, it was open and cut off mid back with a shorter red shirt to go underneath it, a silver pointed clasp hanging on the front of it. There was also a pair of black trousers with a blue strip running down the front, a white belt wrapped around the waist. Also was black cape with blue patterns and a hood, the buckles kept it attached to the vest. A pair of fingerless gloves finished the outfit; black with blue outlines once again, yet the left glove hand a lighter material in the shape of the outline of her markings which she presumed would show them when they glowed.

"I hope you will wear these robes for the up coming battle-."

"Wait, what? What battle?"

Damien smirked, "What do you think?"

Will smiled, elated.

"Now, as I was saying, I would like you to wear these rather than your other robes for the battle."

Will glanced at the robes with a curious expression.

"No offence, but wouldn't my other robes be safer for a battle? They do have armour and are stronger."

"None taken, and they may be more practical, but these robes are lighter. They look to be flimsy like normal clothing but they are woven from a material stronger than steel and lighter than air."

"Surely that is impossible." Will scoffed, purple and black eyes showing disbelief.

"The Master designed and created them himself. I want you to wear them as it will make you look stronger, more confident. Also, I want to keep you safe…" Damien dropped his eyes to the ground, an intense look in his eyes, his voice almost undetectable "I want to help you, like I failed to do so for her…"

He snapped himself out of his own thoughts and brought his gaze back to Will who now looked sympathetic.

"I have two more gifts for you, this one was given to me from the Master, and he told me to grant it to you when you were ready, I think now is a better time than any."

He moved his cloak to the side, revealing a hilt of a sword which she didn't know he had hidden. The handle itself was extravagant, with many swirls and patterns snaking around it. He sheathed the blade and held it out for her to see. It was a long blade, curved up slightly at the top, dipping a little, and then curving once again. The patterns continued down the blade, supporting the slanted handle design.

"Wow, this is… this is…" Will gasped, unable to form words as she hovered her fingers over the blade edge.

"Not all, I also want you to use this."

Damien pulled out another, much shorter blade. It was less fancy and was simpler, a normal straight edged dagger with leather wrapped around the handle and a black gem engraved in the hilt.

"This was my dagger from when I was much, much younger. My father gave it to me when I was a boy, and I've kept it ever since. I want you to have it."

"Damien, I can't accept something so-."

"Nonsense, its either you take it or I send it to the flames. Between you and me I would much rather you chose the first option." He finished with a wink.

Will noticed the stubbornness in his gaze and sighed, reaching out to take the daggers hilt gently in her hands.

"Thank you Damien."

"You're quite welcome, now quickly change into your new robes, I will wait outside."

Will eyed the sword which now lay on her bed with her clothes, then quickly called out to the man walking out the door.

"Damien wait, I don't know how to use a sword."

Damien smiled and strode over to her, pulling his gloved hand in front of him.

"Then I shall teach you."

"Like we have time for that." Will scoffed, running a hand through her hair in an oddly, 'old Will' fashion, Damien noticed this and frowned momentarily, quickly hiding it when she glanced up to him.

"Trust me, by the end of this you will know all there is to know about sword fighting, how to use a dagger, and even hand to hand combat."

"Now you are just being silly."

"No, I am not."

Before she could reply Damien had placed his middle and index fingers on her brow.

Will gasped; her mind was filled with techniques, mastery of weapons and fighting, immediately teaching her how to use them. But that wasn't all, as her head was also effulged in memories.

_A young boy with short corn silk hair and unusual light blue eyes the colour of the sky, stood outside of a wooden house, a thick stick held firmly in his hands as he swung it through the air, crying out as he defeated his no existent enemies._

"_What are you doing son?" a deep voice asked, the boy gasped at the sudden voice, losing his balance and falling on his back, the stick rolling uselessly on the ground next to him._

_He groaned and slowly sat up, shaking his head to dispel the dizziness. He looked up as a hand came into view, smiling widely and taking it happily, being pulled to his feet by his father._

"_Well son?" his father asked playfully, raising his eyebrow at the grinning boy._

"_I was training father! I want to become a Knight! Like you father!"_

_The man chuckled fondly at the child, ruffling his hair and crouching down to his son's level, a new expression appearing on his face._

"_Do you really want to become a Knight like me son?" he asked seriously, staring his son in the eyes to detect and hesitation or doubt._

_He found none, only determination and conviction in eyes so young._

_The boy nodded, choosing not to speak at his father's question._

"_Very well, if you truly want this, then I will train you whenever I can."_

"_Thank you father."_

"_You are welcome Damien."_

The scenes shifted, it was much darker now.

_Rain was falling heavily from the sky, dampening the ground as it did. The area was dim, little light given. The same boy was there from before, only he was older now, probably around fourteen or fifteen years old. He was sat hunched over another form on the muddy ground, his body shaking from sobs which wracked his frame._

_From the distance footsteps could be heard squelching in the mud._

"_Damien! Damien where are you?"_

_Damien did not respond, still crying and tightening his hold on the lifeless body he was hugging to his chest._

"_Damien! Damien please!"_

"_Father…" he moaned quietly, his head still bowed._

"_Damien!"_

"_FATHER!" he yelled, throwing his head back and bellowing into the winds._

"_Damien!" his father shouted back, the sound of footsteps became faster and louder as he approached. Finally he made it through the tree line, slowing down when he saw his son's hunched form._

_He dropped his sword and fell to his knees when he caught sight of mahogany hair being clutched to Damien's shoulder._

"_Marie… no…" he gasped, reaching out to move some of the hair to the side, choking on tears when her now unnaturally pale face came into view._

"_I'm s-sorry father… s-so sorry… i-it was bandits a-and I, I couldn't s-stop them a-and… he killed her a-and… I c-couldn't-! I'm sorry… so sorry…"_

_His father brought him into a close hug, burying his face in his son's hair, trying to keep in his own tears. _

The scene changed once again, now on a cliff edge with a single tree in full bloom planted at the end of it by the ledge, oceans crashing viciously at the rocky base.

_Damien, much older now at about twenty years, ducked under a blade as it cut across him. He brought his own sword back up and slammed it against the other which had been slammed down, bringing his fist up to punch his attacker on the jaw. He span around behind the man and with the flat side of his blade slapped the opponents back. The man jutted forwards, spinning and slamming his sword against Damien's as they parried each other, each sweating profusely as the fight continued._

"_You're getting sloppy old man." Damien smirked._

"_I'm not old, its called being wise." His father jested, continuing the parry._

_Damien used his strength and pushed it into a final swing, his father's sword was thrown out of his grasp and lodged itself into the tree behind him. Damien then blocked his attempt to strike him and kept a tight hold on his wrist, bringing his sword up and hold the flat side over his father's throat, smiling wickedly when his father noticed his predicament._

"_After all my years of teaching you, it seems you are finally ready my son," His father breathed, smiling back at his child, "I have nothing else to teach you."_

"_It's about time." Damien grinned, letting his father go and walking over to the cliff edge and watching the sun shine brightly in the sky._

"_What will you do now?"_

"_Well, Willow and I are going to travel to a distant city a weeks travel away, one that is ruled by three kings. I have interest in joining their forces and Willow wishes to start a family there. I admit I wish for the same thing…" he smiled wistfully and glanced to his father, "You are welcome to join us you know."_

_He laughed lightly "No, no, I am much more at home here. Keeps your mother close to my heart."_

"_Yes, I thought you would say that, but I can't imagine a life where you aren't simply down the hill from me."_

"_You will be fine my son, you will go onto do great things. And I would be lying, If I didn't say I was so incredibly proud of you, and I know your mother is as well."_

"_Thank you, again, father."_

And suddenly they stopped.

All the emotions, feelings she had felt from those foreign memories had vanished.

She gasped, falling back until strong arms encased her waist and supported her head with the other hand.

"I'm sorry; I should have told you that sometimes memories can leak through when I do that, are you alright?"

She found it odd to look at him now, with dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin. So different than how he once looked.

"Yes, yes I am fine."

Damien went to reply but was interrupted by the door swinging open.

"Sir, Mistress, Prince Phobos has arrived with his forces, the Master has demands that everyone report to the throne room immediately." The sentry guard announced, holding his breath as two of the three most deadly creatures he had seen snapped their gaze to him.

"Very well, we will be there promptly." Damien replied, gesturing with his hand for the guard to leave, which he quickly did.

"Change quickly my love, and soon we shall have Candracar for ourselves."

Will nodded and Damien stood outside to give her some privacy, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror, sighing at the image of her, but with muddy brown eyes which were fading to black.

"_Are you sure this is what you want?" _the reflection questioned.

Will grounded her teeth together.

"Yes."

~Ax~

"Oracle? What is troubling you?" Luba asked.

The Oracle did not reply immediately, continuing to stare out at the white clouds which made up their home.

"Something is stirring out there Luba, I don't know what it is but…"

"But what Oracle?"

"But I fear for what it may be."

"Do you think it may have something to do with the exe Guardian?" Luba questioned, frowning at the memory of the fallen protector.

"She is not an exe Guardian Luba. She is still inside that head and is still fighting the dark influences."

Luba now shivered, how she would hate to be in the position of the Keeper, she couldn't imagine a worse kind of Hell than watching your body being controlled and not be able to do anything about it.

"Besides, despite having been taken by the darkness, Will's loyalty will first and foremost belong to Candracar. As it always has been."

"You and I both know that is untrue Oracle."

"Believe what you want Luba, but I have complete faith in Will and her strength."

Luba sighed again, looking out to the clouds which had now darkened to a dull grey, like clouds before a storm.

"What do you want me to do Oracle?"

"Nothing, just go back and care for the Aurameres, keep our Guardians safe."

"Yes Oracle."

Luba bowed respectfully and with one last concerned glance to the motionless Oracle, she left the room.

~Ax~

The Master dragged his eyes over the many creatures which had assembled in the enlarged throne room; they all stood in formation, silently waiting for the master to speak.

He glanced to his right, noticing how Damien seemed to look normal, yet he could sense something was troubling the man.

And to his left, the young girl who had come oh so far in her journey. Though, he could feel his grasp over her slipping somewhat.

Like she was fighting.

He couldn't allow it, he wouldn't.

"The time has come," he preached, his voice travelling all over the room for all to hear, "we have waited many years for an opportunity such as this, and now it has finally arrived for us to complete what we have wanted. We will take Candracar."

The room was filled with cheer from the assorted soldiers, calling out in unison with each other; they were quickly silenced by the Master raising his hand.

"How wrongly we have all been treated. Called dark and evil creatures, simply because we have different views on things, because we act differently. Do you think this fair?"

They all shouted a negative.

"Do you think they have a right to do this because they see themselves as _higher_ than us?"

They all shouted again.

"Then we shall show them what we think, we shall prove to them that dark will prevail over light, that _we_ can be in control."

Once again, the room was full of cheers.

"Will, use your powers, and take us to Candracar undetected."

The Master held out the Heart which floated out of his palm and over to Will, the colour changing into jet black the moment it touched her skin. She held it high above her head and with a spark a light purple portal merged into the room. The armies, made up of both Phobos' men and the Master's thousands of followers, managed to gasp at the sight.

"Now let us go take back what is ours."

They all cheered again, and the Master strode into the portal, followed closely by Damien and Will, the armies following through behind them.

When she stepped out onto the cloud surface, noticing how they darkened and spread out from their footsteps, blackening the white clouds and tainting their beauty, Will felt a twinge in her chest.

And if she didn't know any better, she could have sworn it was regret.

~Ax~

"Oracle! Oracle!"

"What is it Luba?" the Oracle sighed, watching as the cat lady ran towards him.

"The clouds Oracle, look at the clouds, far out in the distance!" she shouted, breathless.

The Oracle stood up and marched to the balcony, scanning the clouds for any disturbances, he could find none.

But then he saw it.

In the distance, as Luba had said, a dark patch was spreading on the clouds like spilt ink. He frowned and squinted his eyes, allowing him to see the mass of bodies hidden in the black.

"Luba, get the Guardians."

"Shall I call them-?"

"No, summon them."

"But Oracle that could be dangerous to our secr-!"

"That does not matter! You will summon the Guardians here and do so quickly!"

Luba stood in shock for a moment at the loud tone the Oracle had used but quickly shook herself out of it and ran out of the room, the Oracle however stood frozen in place, fingers tightly gripping the balcony wall with his eyes trained on the black mob.

For the first time in a long while, the Oracle felt fear.

~Ax~

"Come on Chris! Hurry up and chose a damn flavour!"

"Irma! Don't talk to your brother like that!"

Irma huffed and eyed the devil spawn that they call 'little brother' as he took unnecessary time to pick an ice cream.

"Why are we even doing this? I have much better things to be doing on a Friday."

"Because, your father and I feel like our family doesn't bond enough, so we will be having this fun day out."

"Fun? Really?"

"And what else would you be doing Irma? You haven't exactly been doing much as of late."

"Tom!" Anna hissed to her husband.

"Well its true honey." Tom grumbled.

_Oh yeah, not doing much. Just pretending to hide out in my room whilst I'm actually searching a different world for one of my best friends. Oh, and don't forget that said best friend is now crazy_ _and evil. God, I should go on some day time TV show for this…_

A sudden light encased Irma in a dark blue glow, she gasped in shock but any exclamations she may have had was swollen up as she, and the light, disappeared.

Her family stared at the spot where she just was in pure shock and confusion, as did the surrounding people in the area that had witnessed this disappearance.

"What the f-!"

Tom was cut off when a serine look fell over his, and everyone else's, face, then he sighed and faced Anna.

"Shame Irma couldn't make it today."

"Yeah, real bummer…" Chris muttered, now fully focused on the ice cream stall. Neither of them taking notice of the dropped ice cream which lay crushed on the ground.

~Ax~

"What the actual Hell?!" Irma exclaimed, after having been torn away from her favourite ice cream and dropped, quite unceremoniously, onto the hard floor of Candracar.

"Irma, now isn't the time."

The girl in question took the hand which appeared in front of her and was hauled to her feet by the unnaturally serious Air Guardian.

"… okay, what's going on?"

"What's going on is that we've been betrayed!" Luba screeched.

"Hey! Don't you talk about her like that!" Caleb growled to the edgy cat woman.

"Will?" Irma asked again.

"Yes guardian, though she hasn't done so intentionally-"

"Oh stop with this 'She's still loyal to us' nonsense! She has gone dark _just_ like Nerissa, and to make things even _worse_ she has let an _entire_ goddamn army here with her!"

"Luba-" the Oracle tried to speak but was once again interrupted.

"No Oracle! We need to dispose of h-!"

"Luba! I demand that you silence yourself immediately!"

The entire congregation of creatures seemed to start in surprise at the Oracle's loud tone of voice, none of them having ever, _ever_ heard him use any other volume over irritation.

The Oracle span around on his heel to face the teenagers and rebel.

"I am sorry it has come to this, but now we need to face what we do not want to and stand strong for our home."

"Oracle, what, happened." Cornelia ground out, fed up of being left out of the loop.

The Oracle sighed, "It seems that an army of thousands have made their way to Candracar, they are using the Heart as guidance and will be here soon. But, they are being lead here by the Master himself, along with Damien and… Will."

They all froze; they never have had to have fought an entire army before. Not only that, but an evil army lead by none other than one of their best friends.

"I know this is hard, but if the time comes for you to face Will, you must do so knowing that _she_, is not, Will. Will you be able to fight her?"

A collective thought was in all of their minds.

_Would they? Or better yet, could they?_

* * *

**A/N: hope you enjoyed this chapter, by far not my favourite to write :|**


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